Latest News - Page 1437

We all know NVIDIA is about to launch its new GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, even if the company doesn't want to make it look like it's about to drop another GeForce RTX 30 series card -- and now MSI has made it just a bit more official before launch.

We've already seen the card listed around the world for between $1300 and $2250 online, as well as the you're-stupid-if-you-pay-it $3500+ for the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti SUPRIM X graphics card in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). But now, now MSI itself was caught with a filter on its own website that adds the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti to the pile.

NVIDIA will be announcing its new GeForce RTX 3080 Ti on May 29 at this stage, with a launch in June -- meanwhile, MSI will have its new custom GeForce RTX 3080 Ti SUPRIM X graphics card shipping in June... even though the card is obviously shipping to distributors and retailers right now considering you can buy it in some markets already.

Anyone that has been gaming for 20+ years will have lived through so many promises that photorealistic graphics were right around the corner... well, with the advancements of AI and a team of researchers at Intel... we're closer than ever before. Check this out:

A team working out of the Intel Intelligence Systems Lab, which is a division that is wholly dedicated to researching all things artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotics at Intel. The authors behind the new piece wrote in their introduction to the research article:

"Photorealism has been the goal for video game graphics for half a century and recent advances in the world of artificial intelligence allow for better".

GIGABYTE unveiled a new family of laptops powered by Intel's just-introduced 11th Gen Core "Tiger Lake-H" processors, with the flagship Core i9-11980HK used inside of the new flagship AORUS 17X gaming laptop.

The new AORUS 17X gaming laptop not only packs Intel's new Core i9-11980HK processor, but NVIDIA's super-fast GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU with 16GB of GDDR6 memory, and a 17.3-inch IPS display with a native 1080p resolution and super-fast esports-ready 300Hz refresh rate.

But the thing is, that the flagship AORUS 17X gaming laptop is only here for a "limited return" says GIGABYTE -- packing a Vapor Chamber cooler that the company says boosts the cooling capacity of the AORUS 17X gaming laptop by 37%.

Back at the end of March, Elon Musk announced that Tesla are accepting Bitcoin (BTC) as payment for vehicles, but now Musk has suspended BTC payments for his car company.

In a recent Twitter post on Musk's official Twitter account, Musk revealed that Tesla has "suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin". The image, as seen above, showcases that Tesla is concerned about the rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions. Musk also states in the image that "cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels" and that Tesla "believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at a great cost to the environment".

Additionally, Musk says that Tesla won't be selling any of its Bitcoin holdings, and that the company still intends to use the currency for transactions "as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy". What is probably the most interesting part of the post is that Musk says that "we are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin's energy/transaction".

We have got our first proper look at Intel's upcoming Xe-HP GPU for data centers, with Igor Wallosek and an exclusive look at Intel's multi-tiled GPU. The pictures were shared to Igor from internal Intel slides, and were upscaled using AI software.

The new Intel Xe-HP architecture that we have more details on here packs more Execution Units (EUs) than previously rumors have stated. We have our first proper look at the Intel Arctic Sound 2T and Intel Arctic Sound 1T GPUs with the Arctic Sound 2T being a 2-tile GPU and the Arctic Sound 1T being a 1-tile GPU... pretty obvious, but let's break it down.

Above, we have the Intel Arctic Sound 2T which is a dual-tile Intel Xe-HP with 480 EUs per tile for a total of 7680 shader units (but this still isn't the full 8192 shader units we could expect). Intel is using 32GB of super-fast HBM2e memory and has a 300W TDP on the Arctic Sound 2T GPU. You will need a single 8-pin EPS connector here.

In its recent earnings report, EA sent clear signals that Dragon Age 4 won't release until at least its FY2023 period.

EA's recent earnings call was firmly focused on the immediate future of FY2022. Battlefield, Apex Legends, EA Sports, and mobile were the stars of the call as EA outlined its new ambitious three-part strategy. BioWare was only mentioned a single time during the call, and the words Dragon Age or Mass Effect weren't said once. This alone telegraphs Dragon Age 4 won't launch any time soon and is still locked to at least FY2023 (March 2022 - April 2023) or even beyond.

In the earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson described the new Dragon Age as an "out year" game. This makes sense as Dragon Age has been rebooted a few times since concept development started in 2016. After a brief reboot towards a live game, BioWare now says Dragon Age 4 will be singleplayer-focused.

Vitalik Buterin, the young co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain network regifted more than $1 billion worth of SHIB tokens to the India Covid Relief Fund. The move sent the market value of the token plummeting.

Today, Buterin sent 50 trillion SHIB tokens to the India Covid-19 Relief Fund with an approximate market value of $1.2 billion. The value of the tokens has since dropped, but it is still a massive donation, especially from someone in their 20's.

Vitalik Buterin has plenty of money. With the current value of Ethereum, he is a billionaire. However, he received these tokens for free without asking for them. Buterin reportedly received trillions of SHIB tokens along with large denominations of other so-called meme coins. The tokens were originally sent to his public crypto wallet unsolicited by the founders and community members of Shiba Inu coin as a marketing stunt.

Sony's PlayStation Studios stable of developers are currently making more than two dozen new games for PlayStation 5 consoles, the company confirms.

Sony is accelerating PS5 games development to ensure there's enough pipeline content available when console stock stabilizes. In a recent interview with Wired, PlayStation Studios boss Herman Hulst says there are over 25 games in development for the PS5 and nearly half of them are new IPs. "There's an incredible amount of variety originating from different regions. Big, small, different genres." This is a pretty substantial comment that needs context.

How many of these are first-party games? PlayStation Studios consists of 12 worldwide-based teams ranging from Sucker Punch (Ghost of Tsushima) and Naughty Dog (Last of Us) to Sony Bend (Days Gone) and Sony Japan Studio (Demon's Souls). It's highly unlikely that each team is working on two games at once. For instance, Naughty Dog's Evan Wells says the studio isn't yet ready for multi-project game dev just yet.

EA may be gearing up a big new cross-platform live service mode for Battlefield that keeps users playing for extended periods of time.

Battlefield 6 is a big deal for EA. The publisher describes the game as a "re-launch for the franchise," and has more teams working on it than ever before--DICE Stockholm, DICE LA, EA Gothenburg, Criterion (vehicles), and practically the whole Frostbite team are contributing. This kind of collaboration sets Battlefield up to be a kind of entry point to a platform of sorts that makes a big multi-year splash. The premium release will be huge, but that's just the beginning. EA's live service aspirations for the title are even bigger and will carry the experience forward for some time.

In its recent FY2021 earnings call, EA executives Andrew Wilson and Blake Jorgensen make interesting remarks around the new Battlefield. There's talk of new business models (which is part of EA's new three-part strategy) and engagement strategies, which is the kind of language Activision used to describe Call of Duty Warzone, the industry's most transformative cross-game ecosystem to date.

QuakeCon 2021 won't be an in-person event this year, and is instead moving to an all-digital stream showcase.

Bethesda officially confirms QuakeCon 2021 will be an online-only event held from August 19-21, marking the second time in a row the show skips its traditional venue. Not much is known about the all-digital event but it's possible we'll get some new Doom Eternal info (maybe updates on the next-gen version with mouse and keyboard support consoles?) and a bunch of interviews with id Software.

There's rumblings that id will resurrect Quake at some point, but this seems iffy. id is currently assisting a number of Bethesda studios on their respective projects and they're even planning the future of the Doom universe. id says they have "many stories to tell" in the Doom franchise, but official details will probably be light for some time.

Electronic Arts plans to spend big on research and development as it "leans heavily" into its biggest mega-budget franchises.

EA is gearing up for a huge FY2022 with guidance of $7.3 billion net bookings and an all-time high of $6.8 billion in revenues. A slew of live service-powered digital games will spark this growth, including a myriad of annualized EA Sports titles like FIFA, Madde, NHL, and the new PGA Tour, as well as heavy-hitting billion-dollar shooters like Apex Legends and Battlefield.

These new games will also be cross-gen releases that launch on both PS4/Xbox One as well as next-gen PS5 and Series X platforms for maximum exposure, availability, and monetization potential. This acceleration is made possible by higher R&D spending from EA, which reached its highest point in history in FY2021.

Apex Legends has become one of EA's most important moneymakers with over $1 billion in lifetime revenues since February 2019. Now the company doesn't expect the BR to slow down any time soon.

Like most popular digital games, Apex Legends saw a huge revenue surge during COVID-19. Apex's net bookings in FY2021 reached a record high of $600 million on the back of 12 million DAUs. That number is so high that Apex Legends made 13% of EA's total yearly live service earnings ($4.592 billion).

Apex isn't done yet, though. FY2022 will be even bigger. EA expects Apex to rake in $750 million in FY2022 thanks to new seasonal content and the upcoming Apex Legends mobile game, which will be separately monetized with exclusive cosmetics and battle passes.

Electronic Arts won't have any next-gen exclusive games this fiscal year, and all of its FY2022 titles will come to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as well.

Today EA confirmed that all of its major games in its FY2022 timeline (April 2021 - March 2022) will be cross-gen titles that release on both PS4 and Xbox One as well as next-gen PS5 and Series X. This includes the new Battlefield and all annualized EA Sports releases. EA CEO Andrew Wilson clarifies that while these games will come to PS4 and Xbox One, they will play best on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

"All of our EA Sports titles for FY22 are designed for next-gen console platforms, including FIFA, Madden NFL, NHL, and EA Sports PGA Tour," Wilson said.

EA outlines its new three-part plan that will help surge its next-year FY2022 earnings to a record-breaking $7.3 billion in net bookings.

Following record $8 billion+ earnings and thunderous ecosystem engagement in Call of Duty Warzone and COD Mobile, Activision's four-part plan is turning heads. Big-name publishers like EA are taking notice and are currently laying out frameworks for their own long-term plans of sustainable digital profitability.

Instead of four pillars, EA's plan has three main parts:

NASA is smashing out "very first" achievements with its Ingenuity helicopter and Perseverance rover that are currently exploring Mars.

It wasn't long ago that the small helicopter Ingenuity successfully took off from the Red Planet's surface, marking the very first flight of a spacecraft on another planet. Since then, Ingenuity has continued to push the boundaries of its distance and time in flight records. On April 30, Ingenuity commenced an 872-foot round trip. Audio and video was captured by Perseverance's SuperCam microphone.

NASA has since released the audio of Ingenuity's first flight, marking the first time the sound of another spacecraft hovering on Mars has been heard. At the start of the above video, you can hear the quiet hum of the helicopter's propellers as it prepares to take off. The video has been released on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory YouTube Channel and states that "sound adds a new dimension to space exploration". For more information on this story, check out this link here.

A new report has surfaced that has revealed that the infamous Chernobyl nuclear facility has seen a steady increase in neutron emissions, concerned scientists gravely.

Back in 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear facility went into meltdown, causing one of the world's greatest disasters that has ever occurred. The meltdown was caused by a flawed reactor design combined with personal that weren't fully trained, as well as human incompetence. If you are interested in learning more about how and why Chernobyl happened, I highly recommend you watch the series "Chernobyl" on HBO.

Now, a new report in New Scientist details that sub-reactor room 305/2, which is thought to have large amounts of radioactive material, is increasingly producing more neutron emissions. Researchers recorded that room 305/2 has increased its neutron emissions by 40% since early 2016. Researchers are currently evaluating if the surge in the rooms production in neutron emissions will eventually decrease, or if human intervention is required.

Nintendo has been very quiet on the next console it will be releasing, but now a financial report from an OLED display manufacturer and developer has seemingly blown up the company's spot.

A financial report from Universal Display Corporation of the company's performance for last quarter cited the existence of a "Nintendo Switch Pro". Additionally, the president of the company, Steven V. Abramson, said, "And in the video game market, here we have our reports: for the first time, Nintendo has chosen an OLED screen for the new Switch Pro given the benefits of higher contrast and faster response time".

As more devices have adopted OLED displays, the price of the displays has dropped, making them more economically viable for future developers. Abramson states, "OLED adoption continues to expand; it's fueling the multi-year OLED growth cycle we're in." Officially, Nintendo hasn't said anything about a Switch Pro, but reports surfacing online point towards 2021 being the year Nintendo will drop a console with 4K support and "better graphics".

A new report has shown the extent of Facebook's user data collection can lead pharmaceutical firms to be able to target directly to people that have health conditions.

The results come from The Markup's Citizen Browser project, a non-profit organization that is exploring how technology is affecting society. The researchers found from looking at 1,200 Facebook user's ad data that many ads for prescription drugs were targeted to users because they expressed "interests" in other topics such as "bourbon" and "oxygen". It was also discovered that Big Pharma companies used the keyword "awareness" to target ads to users that expressed interest in certain illnesses.

An example of this would be Zejula, which is a GlaxoSmithKline drug that is commonly used to treat ovarian cancer was discovered to be targeted to users who were interested in "cancer awareness". Additionally, The Markup estimated that the potential sales could be very large considering that Facebook's ad system states that nearly 203 million people have shown interest in "cancer awareness".

Pico Interactive this week revealed two new standalone VR headsets for the enterprise market. The company previously announced the Neo 3, a consumer-oriented device that's destined only for China. For the Western markets in both North America and Europe, Pico is focused on working with businesses.

The Pico Neo 3 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2-powered standalone headset, which bears a lot of resemblance to the Oculus Quest 2. It features four inside-out tracking cameras, which give the headset spatial awareness. The Neo 3 also includes a pair of optically-tracked motion controllers, which Pico said gives the controllers improved tracking compared to the electromagnetic solution in the Neo 2.

"Business needs are constantly evolving due to the changing landscape all industries are finding themselves in due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Henry Zhou, CEO of Pico Interactive. "For the Neo 3 line, we implemented the latest technologies to meet the ever-changing demands of the enterprise. For instance, as hybrid and remote work continues, more companies are seeking remote collaboration solutions, like Pico Interactive's VR headsets with tools and applications available through our software partners, to allow employees to increase productivity and sales to boost revenue. From training firefighters to decreasing the impact of social isolation on seniors to measuring brain health, Pico's headsets are now being used in a wide range of industries."

HP is now taking orders of the upcoming Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition. The Omnicept is a VR headset that includes a handful of biometric sensors that give it advanced features best suited for business uses, but it looks like anyone can order it from HP's website.

The Reverb G2 Omnicept comes equipped with a pair of pupil-tracking cameras to enable foveated rendering, which gives the headset image quality and performance benefits when paired with the right graphics card. The eye-tracking sensors also allow developers to infer information about the user's cognitive function during a training experience. The Reverb G2 Omnicept even has a heart rate sensor to track the user's level of excursion or anxiety while performing a training task.

The Omnicept Edition also includes a built-in face tracking sensor, which monitors your facial expressions and tracks your lips and tongue to help animate realistic avatars in collaborative VR experiences. When HP announced the Omnicept, face tracking was a novel idea. HTC recently beat HP to market with an attachment for the Vive Pro, but Omnicept has it built-in and integrated with the other sensors on the headset.