Latest News - Page 1357

Microsoft's new DirectStorage API was previously touted as exclusive to Windows 11, but not anymore -- Microsoft has announced that the DirectStorage preview will be compatible with Windows 10 version 1909 and above.

The new DirectStorage API debuted with Microsoft's next-gen Xbox Series X/S consoles, with the company promising it would debut in developer preview form on the PC in the summer. At the time, it was thought DirectStorage would be a Windows 11 exclusive, but nope.

Program Manager Hassan Uraizee explains: "Microsoft is committed to ensuring that when game developers adopt a new API, they can reach as many gamers as possible. As such, games built against the DirectStorage SDK will be compatible with Windows 10, version 1909 and up; the same as the DirectX 12 Agility SDK".

The world of cryptocurrency was meant to usher in a full disconnect from central banks and the BS between you and your money, but the European Union has other plans.

The European Commission, which is the executive branch of the European Union, is reportedly planning to ban anonymous cryptocurrency wallets. The news is coming from Reuters, which reports that the EU's big (brother) push will see service providers requiring a customer's name, address, and their age -- as well as the name of the recipient -- for any and all cryptocurrency transfers.

The EU is of course saying this is for your safety, as it's part of the European Commission's fight against terrorism financing and money laundering. The new law that the EU will push through would make Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transfers completely traceable.

Russia has just unveiled its next-gen S-500 surface-to-air missile system, known as Prometheus, which succeeds the S-400 missile defense system and comes at a time when the smell of war hasn't been stronger.

The new S-500 system can blow ballistic and cruise missiles out of the sky, as well as aircraft like planes and helicopters. Russia has a 600km (373 miles) interception radius, with Russia's state RIA news agency reporting that it was the first time that Russia had tested its new S-500 system in a live-fire test.

It can also take out stealth warplanes, and hypersonic weapons and satellites that are in near-space. Yeah, you read that right.

Back 4 Blood has just been teased with NVIDIA DLSS technology, uncapped frame rates, UltraWide monitor support, FOV adjustments, and more on the PC.

The PC version of Back 4 Blood also supports cross-platform play with console gamers, with an open beta kicking off on August 5 where you'll be able to get back into the blood. The Early Access version of Back 4 Blood is available on August 5 for those who pre-order, while everyone else gets access on August 12-16.

Back 4 Blood is described as: "Back 4 Blood is a thrilling cooperative first-person shooter from the creators of the critically acclaimed Left 4 Dead franchise. You are at the center of a war against the Ridden. These once-human hosts of a deadly parasite have turned into terrifying creatures bent on devouring what remains of civilization. With humanity's extinction on the line, it's up to you and your friends to take the fight to the enemy, eradicate the Ridden, and reclaim the world".

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and COO Greg Peters talk more about the company's push into video games.

Netflix will soon add games to its all-you-can-consume streaming service. These games won't cost extra and have one singular goal: To turn Netflix into a must-have service by adding more value.

As Google and Amazon can attest, gaming isn't easy, but the billion-dollar streaming titan Netflix is willing to experiment with lots of different models, mechanisms, content offerings and platforms in order to hit its stride. Netflix will start with mobile but Peters says that "every device is a candidate for some sort of gaming experience."

Ubisoft is still focusing primarily on high-production premium games and free-to-play takes a backseat.

Ubisoft's new free-to-play strategy won't disrupt its tentpole games, and the company has no plans to invest heavily into F2P. In a recent Q1 earnings call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot confirms premium games are still the top priority, and the majority of dev expenses are spent on premium games.

"80% of expenses are being used to substantially expand premium offerings in 3 ways," Guillemot said, outlining the following:

Western Digital reveals pricing, availability, and capacities for its new Battlefield 2042 SSD bundle lineup.

PC gamers in need of a big storage speed boost can now grab a high-end WD_BLACK SSD with a free copy of Battlefield 2042. WD has opened up pre-orders for its Battlefield 2042 SSD bundle that includes a WD_BLACK SN750 SE SSD as well as a digital version of DICE's new 128-player multiplayer carnage-fest Battlefield 2042.

The WD_BLACK SN750 SE is an M.2 NVMe SSD capable of hitting 3.6GB/sec over PCIe 4.0, and the bundles come in two sizes: 500GB ($114.99) and 1TB ($179.99). WD says this bundle will be available to gamers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The bundle includes the standard edition of Battlefield 2042, which grants early access to the game's upcoming beta.

Ubisoft is making a never-ending Assassin's Creed game with heavy emphasis on engagement, live services, and content, but the publisher promises not to betray the franchise's core DNA.

Assassin's Creed Infinity sounds like less of a game and more of a platform. The way it's described makes me think AC Infinity will be an app that hosts different games--think of Infinity like a book where every chapter is a different game with a specific story and setting. Infinity could be an opportunity for the franchise to do some much-needed condensing.

Whatever Infinity turns out to be, Ubisoft promises that the live game will still deliver sprawling narratives and interesting stories.

UPDATE: Netflix executives have outlined their ambitious multi-year plan for free games. Read more here.

Netflix confirms games are coming to the subscription service at no extra cost.

Netflix is getting into gaming. Instead of making a splash like Amazon and Google, the entertainment titan is easing into the $180 billion market with a slow-and-steady approach that focuses more on casual experiences first.

Having already made his mark on film, Neil Blomkamp is now setting his sights on interactive video games.

Neil Blomkamp, the director behind acclaimed films like District 9, Elysium, and Chappie, is helping shape the world for a new AAA online shooter. Blomkamp is working with Gunzilla Games, a newer studio made up of industry vets like Alex Zoll (Warface), Timur Davidenko (CryEngine), and Scott Probin (EA), and will use his unique vision to create an exotic sci-fi world.

Blomkamp will help the team create a long-term setting and story arc that evolves over time. "If you think of something like Elysium, the amount of forethought to build the world, you may be spending 95% of the time thinking through the worldbuilding in order to get to the 5%, which is the movie that you watch," Blomkamp tells IGN.

Tencent has acquired yet another games company, this time with UK developer Sumo Digital.

Tencent has purchased Sumo Digital, the developer behind games like LittleBig Planet 3, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and Crackdown 3, for $1.27 billion (£919 million). Tencent paid a 43% premium over Sumo's pre-buyout share value.

Sumo has demonstrated clear expertise with diversified third-party and owned IP partnerships, and Tencent says it will take a hands-off approach with business. Sumo will "maintain the independence of its high quality existing turn-key, co-development and work-for-hire projects" while Tencent invests cash into the team and projects when needed. The Chinese firm says it wants to help Sumo create more wholly-owned IP that can be stretched across multiple geographies and platforms.

Nexus Mods today announced big changes to its premium pricing tiers, confirming the option to buy lifetime memberships will be discontinued next month.

Nexus Mods will remove the option to buy lifetime premium memberships starting August 3. The popular mod-hosting site will instead revert to a standard monthly/yearly subscription model in August as it prepares for the biggest site overhaul in history--a move that will allow premium users to download whole lists of mods with a single click.

The White House has blamed China for several cyberattacks aimed at Microsoft's business email server, the Microsoft Exchange Server.

According to the White House website, the US, along with other allies such as the European Union, the United Kingdom, and NATO, are revealing how the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been conducting malicious cyber activity that is endangering national security. The statement from the White House says that the PRC has been using "contract hackers," and due to the lack of interest China has in taking responsibility for the hacks and stopping them, it's believed that they are intentional.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently published four indictments for four Chinese nationals over a hacking campaign that occurred between 2011 and 2018. The DOJ website states that the hacking campaign targeted the following industries; aviation, defense, education, government, health care, biopharmaceutical, and maritime. Additionally, the hackers obtained trade secrets, chemical formulas, sensitive technologies, proprietary genetic-sequencing technology.

NASA has announced that the United States' "window to the universe" is back online and operational after being offline for more than a month.

NASA has announced the news with a new video posted to its NASA Goddard YouTube channel and also a tweet on the Hubble Space Telescope Twitter account. The tweet from NASA states that the Hubble team has successfully been able to turn on the backup hardware on the telescope after failing to fix the problem with the payload computer.

Now, Hubble is back online after the team successfully switched the telescope over to its backup hardware, and to celebrate life being breathed back into the 32-year-old telescope, NASA has released a new image. The image shows a large spiral galaxy that has elongated spiral arms that are described as "unusual" as "disk galaxies have an even number of spiral arms, this one has three", explains NASA.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has enjoyed a laugh at the internets purported friendly rivalry between Musk and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.

Over the weekend, Musk spent some time replying to many tweets from his followers, some regarding the Tesla FSD Beta that was just released and others simple memes that are relevant to the time. One of those memes included Musk and Bezos poorly edited onto a scene of Anakin and Padme in Star Wars.

The meme is referencing that Bezos' Blue Origin New Shepard rocket will take him to 100 km altitude (62.1371 miles), which is orbital, and not suborbital, which starts when a vehicle reaches altitudes of higher than 100 km and something that SpaceX has achieved multiple times with cargo trips to the International Space Station (ISS). Musk replied to the meme with a simple "haha", and then commented on another tweet that showed an image of Bezos and Musk at a dinner back in 2008.

Tic Tac has finally embraced the recent reports surrounding "Tic Tac" shaped unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings.

It's surprising that the company took so long to lean into the reporting that was coming out of US military personnel, which later turned into a full report from the Pentagon. A Reddit user spotted an advertisement by the TicTac USA Instagram account, and it features an image of a tic tac-shaped UFO beaming light down onto a box of tic tac freshmints.

The advertisement also features a caption that reads, "We Believe. When the Tic Tac UFO comes, you will want to be fresh and ready." Reddit users have already begun backing the decision for tic tac to adapt UFOs into their marketing strategy, with some users even giving the company free slogans to use. Slogans Reddit user SatanMeekAndMild suggested; "Tic Tac: Freshness that's out of this world", "Tic Tac: So fresh, you'll say UFOmg", "Tic Tac: Close encounters of the fresh kind", and "Tic Tac: So good, they had to cover it up".

Astronomers have obtained new images of a supermassive black hole emitting a powerful jet in detail that wasn't possible until now.

The images were captured by the Event Horizon Telescope which was pointed at the center of the Centaurus A galaxy. The telescope managed to capture images of a powerful jet that came out of the black hole with ten times more accuracy and sixteen times higher resolution than was previously possible.

According to astronomer Michael Janssen of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany and Radboud University in the Netherlands, "This allows us for the first time to see and study an extragalactic radio jet on scales smaller than the distance light travels in one day. We see up close and personal how a monstrously gigantic jet launched by a supermassive black hole is being born."

A Reddit user has taken to the /r/IUFOs subreddit to post a video of the user on a flight recording what the individual claims to be "light balls" hovering in the sky.

The video has since gone viral on Reddit and has made its way over to other platforms such as TikTok. The Reddit user claims that the video was shot during a Red-Eye flight over the Pacific and that there were no buildings or ships below the "light balls". Additionally, the user goes on to claim that there were "14-16" distinct light balls and that there was a "pattern".

While the video certainly is interesting, many users on the UFO subreddit questioned its legitimacy as the user who posted the video wouldn't provide the thread with the details of the flight. It should also be noted that some users are suggesting that the lights may be oil rigs or light reflecting off the front of the camera lens. As always, the evidence is very minimal to officially conclude UFOs with these types of videos, which ultimately leaves the question up to you.

A British police officer claims he had an encounter with an extraterrestrial and that he was abducted for examination.

The police officer is named Philip Spencer, and the incident occurred on December 1, 1987, in Ilkley Moor when Spencer left his home to venture down one of the many walking trails. Spencer intended to capture images of the Moor but spotted a creature that had large black eyes, pointy ears, long arms, and feet that were hoof-shaped. Spencer captured the above image of the creature and then claimed that he followed it only to eventually lose it and then see a "saucer" shaped object fly up into the sky and disappear.

Wharfedale UFO expert Nigel Mortimer examined the image and said, "I have been trying to do this analysis for years. We are also trying to get other people involved and will look at the evidence properly. It isn't just this photo - there have been reports of other phenomena in that area for years. I was talking to some Americans last week and they told me that they regard this Ilkley case as second only to the Roswell case in the US as evidence of aliens."

A video last month has recently gone viral as it shows the moment two women were flung from a swing that was swinging them over a 6,300 feet cliff.

The video was shot last month in Russia's Dagestan region, and it shows two women being thrown from a swing that goes out over the side of a cliff. The women were flung from the swing because one of the chains attached to the chair broke, causing the chair to drop to one side and the women to be hurdled forwards while they desperately struggled to hold on.

While the cliff is 6,300 feet, 200 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon, the women actually survived the fall because they landed on a narrow platform just below the cliff face. The Mirror reports that family members dragged them both to safety and that the women only suffered mild bruising and scratches from the fall. An investigation has begun into the incident by Russian authorities.