Latest News - Page 1359

Microsoft Flight Simulator is coming soon to Xbox Series X/S hardware, and it'll require a hefty install size in order to play.

The standard edition Microsoft Flight Simulator will require at least 97.2GB of free space on Xbox Series X/S consoles, which is roughly 12% of the total 802GB of available SSD storage. This bit of info was found via the pre-install section of the game's general purchase page.

What's more interesting is the on-console Microsoft Store listing says the game has an approximate size of 147.6GB, This size was listed for all versions of the game--standard, deluxe, premium deluxe. While this might sound like a lot, remember that over 2,5 petabytes of map data gets streamed to Flight Sim players via Azure servers. Flight Sim is also taking advantage of the Series X/S's machine learning inference capabilities.

Intel has confirmed that its next-gen "Sapphire Rapids" Xeon CPUs would have HBM, and now we're hearing that AMD will be upgrading its Zen 4-based EPYC "Genoa" CPUs with HBM.

The news is coming from Inpact-Hardware, which is reporting that they've got sources that tell them an HBM-powered version of AMD's next-gen EPYC Genoa CPUs is being planned. Inpact-Hardware reports: "There is indeed a recurring question of an HBM version of Zen 4 among partners, but for the moment nothing seems definitively decided on this subject. The manufacturer could indeed reserve such a solution for certain customers or ultimately prefer a variation with 3D V-Cache".

We're to expect Intel's next-gen Sapphire Rapids CPUs in 2022 with HBM variants in volume sometime in 2023, with AMD partners asking the company if there would be an EPYC CPU with HBM on-board. It seems they have been pressured enough from their partners, and now Intel with HBM on Sapphire Rapids, for Zen 4-based EPYC "Genoa" CPUs to have HBM.

Intel is still a few months away from unleashing its next-gen 12th Gen Core CPUs with the new Alder Lake-S platform coming in October 2021 according to the latest reports -- with qualifying samples leaking out onto the CPU black market for $1064.

The new Intel Core i9-12900K processor can be purchased for anywhere between $1064 and $1157 on the "Chinese black market". VideoCardz reports that it has confirmed these Core i9-12900K processors are indeed Qualification Samples and the major reason why sellers wouldn't want to post pictures of their super-secret CPUs.

The new Intel Core i9-12900K QS processor clocks in at up to 5.3GHz on its big cores and 3.7GHz on the small cores, with power limits of 125W for PL2 and up to 228W for PL2. Inside, the new Core i9-12900K will have 8 high-performance Golden Cove cores and 8 high-efficiency Gracemont mini cores.

We're all sick to freaking death of the headlines of today, with daily death tallies and how the pandemic has changed the fabric of society forever -- so let's mix it up with the introduction of aliens I guess.

Close to 10 years ago an anonymous Reddit user said that there would be an introduction to aliens on July 18, 2021... which is today. The user was "Throawaylien" who posted on Reddit on November 19, 2013, in the r/AskReddit subreddit where he talks about being abducted many times, the music that aliens don't like, and that we should see aliens on either July 8 or July 18.

In the following days, u/Throawaylien continues to post and answer questions from Reddit users, talking about how he's been abducted by aliens multiple times, how they always gave him a bowl of salt, and that in general -- he had no idea what the aliens want from us.

You aren't able to buy AMD's new Radeon RX 6900 XT Liquid Cooled graphics cards, as it's only available for OEMs -- but that hasn't stopped a review of the new water-cooled GPU going live.

PC Games Hardware secured themselves one of AMD's new Radeon RX 6900 XT Liquid Cooled graphics cards and played around with it exactly as you would if you had a super elusive new GPU. AMD is using its own AIO cooler here, compared to the dual-fan cooler on the Radeon RX 6900 XT reference graphics card.

We have GPU clocks of 2250MHz and 2435MHz for base and game clock, respectively -- while the Radeon RX 6900 XT LC has its 16GB of GDDR6 memory overclocked (and is the only Radeon RX 6000 series GPU to have its GDDR6 memory overclocked) to 18.5Gbps which provides up to 591.1GB/sec of memory bandwidth.

Amsterdam has just become home to the world's first 3D-printed steel footbridge, opened up in the city's infamous Red Light District.

The new 3D-printed bridge features the latest sensor technology, which measures how the bridge is handling pedestrian traffic in real-time. The 12-meter (39 feet) bridge was built using 3D printing technology that involved the use of welding robots, with MX3D the company behind the technology.

Tim Geurtjens, who developed the MX3D technology, explains: "If you want to have a really highly decorated bridge or a really aesthetic bridge, suddenly it becomes a good option to print it, because it's not just about making things cheaper and more efficient".

If you've been wondering what to get me for Christmas, now you know what -- LG's new rollable OLED TV that is out-of-this-world awesome, with an out-of-this-world price of $100,000.

LG's new OLED R TV rolls out in a 65-inch size with native 4K resolution and super-smooth 120Hz refresh rate, with the OLED panel delivering some of the best image quality you can get -- perfect for super-enthusiast PC gaming. You've got a full 65-inch rollable OLED TV that will roll itself up, and down, with the cabinet it rolls into packing a front-firing, 100W Dolby Atmos sound system, too.

We have 4K 120Hz support, Dolby Atmos, VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), auto low latency mode, HDMI 2.1 connectivity (required for the 4K 120Hz side of things), and so much more. You're going to pay $100,000 for this TV so you'd kinda expect all of that.

A massive crypto farm in Vinnitsa, Ukraine was seized by government officials alongside 3800 PlayStation 4 Pro consoles. Despite popular belief, these consoles weren't actually used to mine cryptocurrency.

Last week, the Security Service of Ukraine busted a crypto farm and seized a massive stockpile of tech that included over 500 graphics cards, 50 CPUs, and a whopping 3800 PS4 Pros. Erroneous reports assumed the PS4s were somehow being used for crypto farming--which is something that hasn't really been done before.

The reality is the miners weren't using the consoles for crypto. According to new reports from European news site Delo, the miners were using the PS4s to make money off of FIFA. The PS4 Pros were a bot farm, complete with special AI that simulated actual player behaviors, playstyles, and actions. These bots basically racked up in-game coins and leveled up accounts, which were then sold on an underground market for a profit.

Skate 4 developers at Full Circle confirm the game won't be at EA Play Live on July 22, but fans will get some sort of teaser tomorrow.

With IPs like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Star Wars, and now Skate missing the show, EA Play Live will be dominated by Battlefield 2042, FIFA 22, and Madden 22. The reality is Full Circle isn't yet ready to show off Skate 4 in a big way...but that doesn't mean they can't give us "a little something".

"We know many of you were hoping to see more from us this week, but we're not ready for prime time just yet and we won't be part of the EA Play Live show on Thursday," the developer announced. The team says they don't "want to blow it" and they understand how much hype has gone into Skate 4, so they need more time to make something really dazzling.

Anyone with a Steam account can now reserve a Steam Deck handheld-PC hybrid, Valve confirms.

Steam Decks can now be reserved by anyone, Valve says, but the company has pushed back fulfillments to match this widespread availability. Before now Steam Deck reservations were somewhat restricted and couldn't be made by users with new Steam accounts.

Valve's new Steam Deck has garnered a lot of interest and buzz. It's a fully-fledged PC made into a portable handheld, complete with full compatibility with Steam games via SteamOS. A lot of people want one, and luckily Valve has a plan to ensure there isn't a free-for-all bot frenzy.

We've all been there... that heart-wrenching moment when something has happened on your PC and you think you've lost it all -- documents, photos, videos, precious files that you thought you'd have forever. Gone in an instant.

Well, not anymore -- not with Stellar Data Recovery.

Stellar Data Recovery is available for both Windows and Mac and easily lets you recover up to 1GB of lost or even deleted data on Windows for free. You can use Stellar Data Recovery to retrieve lost data from a PC, laptop, external HDD, a RAID setup, or USB flash drive.

Another day, another story where the world that people believe to be so innocent, isn't.

Israeli surveillance company NSO Group has experienced a gigantic, world-changing leak. The Guardian along with 16 other media organizations have run an investigation, showing that NSO's hacking software knock as "Pegasus", crafted to be used against terrorists and criminals -- just like all that "good" "hacking software" -- has been used against the good guys.

But first... what is Pegasus? Pegasus is malware that was made by NSO Group that can infect virtually any iPhone or Android smartphone and once installed, can let the operator pull out messages, photos, emails, record and monitor calls and even secretly activate microphones on the phone.

Ubisoft plans to reveal a new Tom Clancy multiplayer FPS tomorrow, and it's likely the leaked BattleCat game.

Ubisoft announces that it will show off a new Tom Clancy shooter tomorrow, July 19 at 2PM EST. The game is believed to be the leaked BattleCat hero shooter, which was said to be free-to-play on consoles, PC, and streaming platforms complete with crossovers across Ubisoft's Tom Clancy franchises. Gamers should expect characters, weapons, and possibly even maps from big mainline IPs like Splinter Cell, The Division, and Ghost Recon.

The teaser is filled with bright colors, and irreverent, punkish aesthetics not unlike Watch Dogs 2. This could suggest a kind of chaotic mashup of games, and new gameplay footage promos clearly show character abilities befit of a hero shooter. One of the characters has a cloak ability and a green watch, which could match up with previous reports of Splinter Cell's Echelon being featured in the FPS game.

AMD is reportedly going to unleash its new codename Chagall CPU later this year, a new Zen 3-based range of Ryzen Threadripper CPUs with up to 64 cores and 128 threads.

We've been hearing more and more on the new AMD codename Chagall lately, but now Tom from Moore's Law is Dead is providing some more detailed information on the new CPUs. Tom says that the new Chagall CPU will have up to 64 cores with the Ryzen Threadripper 5995X processor, and will launch in November 2021.

The new Ryzen Threadripper 5995X (and other Threadripper 5000 series CPUs) will have quad-channel DDR4-3200 RAM support, 64 PCIe 4.0 lanes in total, and should be more expensive than the Zen 2-based Ryzen Threadripper 3000 series CPUs but Tom points out that "exact pricing isn't finalized yet".

Ubisoft's new 3-player PVE shooter Rainbow Six Extraction has been delayed again to January 2022, but it won't miss the company's fiscal year timeline.

Squad-based co-op shooter Rainbow Six Extraction has been pushed back again so that developers can polish, iterate, and create the best experience possible. "We are embracing the opportunity to take additional time to bring this vision to life in the way it deserves in January 2022. We are confident this will ensure Rainbow Six Extraction is the immersive, cooperative, and thrilling experience we set out to create, and the one you aspire to play," Ubisoft said in a statement.

The delay makes sense. The holiday Q4 2021 period (October - December) is extremely congested, especially for shooters: There's Halo Infinite, Call of Duty Vanguard, Battlefield 2042, and even Ubisoft's own Far Cry 6 all releasing in the period.

Valve wants to ensure its new PC-handheld Steam Deck hybrid has full games parity with the PC client at launch.

The new Steam Deck has a powerful selling point: allowing consumers to take their full Steam games library on-the-go and pick up right where they left off. The Steam Deck also has the added bonus of being a fully-fledged PC that can be plugged into a monitor or TV for dedicated play. There's just one potential issue with compatibility as the Steam Deck uses Linux, not Windows.

The Steam Deck runs Valve's own proprietary SteamOS operating system, which is based on Linux. The new SteamOS 3.0 uses a solution called Proton to get Windows-based games up and running without any extra work from developers. The idea is to provide seamlessly compatibility to ensure games natively run on both Windows and SteamOS.

Valve has been quietly adjusting Steam Deck pre-order availability as part of its strategic staggered rollout.

Instead of a huge free-for-all spree where bots dominate pre-orders, Valve has a multi-tiered plan with Steam Deck reservations. The idea is to start fulfilling pre-orders on a first-come, first-served basis. That means consumers who made their reservations early will also get their Steam Decks earlier than those who reserve today.

Reservations for the system were first held a day ago with a targeted December 2021 shipment date. Now, however, the models have been pushed back as far as Q3 2022. Valve plans to start shipping Steam Decks in waves rather than all at once.

Hackers and dupers are currently disrupting Fallout 76's economy, and that's on top of big server issues.

Fallout 76 players are reporting big issues with the state of the game. Right now the online-only Fallout is getting hit on two levels:

The crashes are widespread and affect players across the board, from users with lower and higher-end internet connections.

The new Steam Deck uses a socketed M.2 2230 SSD that apparently isn't soldered to the motherboard, Valve confirms.

The Steam Deck's internal SSDs may be replaceable after all. In a recent email, Valve's Gabe Newell confirmed the Steam Deck uses a smaller M.2 2230 SSD, which is the same form form factor as the custom WD SN530 SSD used both in the Xbox Series X's internal storage and the storage expansion card's CFExpress casing.

Valve has now confirmed the Steam Deck's M.2 2230 SSD by officially updating the system's specifications. According to Valve, every Steam Deck has an M.2 slot, but the storage in the 256GB and 512GB NVMe versions aren't meant to be replaced by users. "All models use socketed 2230 m.2 modules (not intended for end-user replacement)," the updated specs page reads.

I was in the middle of writing my news for the day, while it was around 4:20AM at the time when I noticed it (Elon must be checking over my shoulder) and I notice Dogecoin is trending on Twitter. I check the price, it has spiked 10% or so -- time to see if Elon has tweeted about Dogecoin.

Elon Musk didn't tweet about Dogecoin but he did change his Twitter profile picture, which now has Musk with a pair of aviators looking all dapper -- with Dogecoin reflected in the glasses. The price of Dogecoin had fallen to around $0.17 in the last 24 hours -- most of the crypto market has been suffering -- with this news popping it close to $0.19 at the time of writing.