Latest News - Page 1617

Fortnite is a titan of the industry that continually rakes in billions, and now it's made over $1 billion from microtransactions on mobile.

Fortnite isn't just a game. It's a sensation, a kind of social experiment with interactive gameplay, and most importantly, the perfect advertising billboard for movies, products, and even musical artists. Fortnite transcends what a game could be, and as a result of this barrier-breaking success, the game has raked in billions of revenues (Epic made $3 billion in operating profit in 2018 alone). Now Fortnite mobile has joined the billion-dollar club.

Analyst firm Sensor Tower reports that Fortnite has generated over $1.003 billion in revenue across all platforms since releasing in 2018. The firm attributes COVID-19 lockdowns for accelerating spending, alongside the Travis Scott concert in April.

In early 2020, BioWare finally confirmed Anthem is getting rebooted. But now, roughly three months after the announcement, BioWare has only just started prototyping the big update.

Anthem is getting a big overhaul in an attempt to save the ailing live game. EA simply spent too much money on the project, and BioWare enjoyed big sales from the franchise. But the live service aspects utterly failed--BioWare broke Progression, step 3 on the Engagement Cycle--and the game is stagnant. The devs are planning something big, maybe a huge A Realm Reborn-style turnaround for the game, but it'll be a long time before it's ready. A long, long time.

Right now BioWare only has 30 people working on Anthem's new reconstruction. In a recent blog post, BioWare's Christian Dailey confirmed the status of Anthem's reboot.

Konami's total yearly profits dive on weak foreign exchange rates, coronavirus disruption across amusement and pachislot segments, and increased spending on new games in development.

Konami just announced its FY19 earnings, and like Sony, the games-maker is seeing a big drop in overall profits.

Konami's net revenues for the year ending March 31, 2020 sit at $2.4 billion, flat year-over-year on the strength of consistent games performance, but operating income is down nearly 40% to $284.9 million due to boosted expenses like moving to a new Konami-owned office in the Ginza district of Tokyo. Profits are likewise down a big 41% YoY to $182.9 million due to shaky global economics from COVID-19.

Today CD Projekt RED dropped a new glimpse at the scorching no man's land deserts that surround Night City, showing a very different side of the game's cyber-tech futurism.

Cyberpunk 2077 is absolutely huge and has lots of different areas to explore across Night City, complete with six districts that're run by different cultures and gangs. But outside the city there's a hostile near post-apocalyptic landscape straight out of Mad Max.

It's ruled by various factions including the Wraiths, ruthless bandits and raiders of the wastes, and the Nomads, who roam the sandy dunes.

Titanfall 3 still isn't in development, Respawn head Vince Zampella confirms. But something special is cooking up on the stoves at the newly rebranded DICE LA studio.

Apex Legends will be the only Titanfall-related game for a while. Titanfall 3 isn't happening at Respawn, despite EA's 2019 teases of a new premium Titanfall game. It might come out some day, but it's not being worked on right now.

"There's nothing currently in development," Vince Zampella told IGN. "But it's always there. You see the little bits of stuff coming back [through the lore in Apex Legends]. At some point, I would personally like to see some kind of resurrection there. We'll see if I can make that happen."

The coronavirus pandemic has most certainly changed the technology world and other industries all around the globe. Many events that would normally take place with hundreds or even thousands of people in the same location have been canceled and made digital-only. One example from Apple is it canceling its in-person WWDC event in favor of a completely digital WWDC 2020. Apple has now announced that it has purchased a virtual reality startup called NextVR.

NextVR is a startup that's focused on broadcasting major events in virtual reality. While Apple has confirmed the purchase, it hasn't said what exactly it plans to do with the company. An Apple spokesperson told Bloomberg, "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

It seems like current services offered by NextVR are being shut down with all content on the company's website removed and a message that says the company is "heading in a new direction" left in its place. Apple has been pushing into augmented and mixed reality, and claims to have the world's largest AR platform with hundreds of millions of AR-enabled devices and apps on the App Store.

Payday owner Starbreeze is still in dire straits. If the company doesn't get extra cash or secure a publishing deal by Q4 2020, it may have to start liquidating assets. The Payday franchise could be the first to go.

After disastrous losses and debt issues, Starbreeze is still hanging on. The company is still losing a lot of money, but the good news is now it's losing less money. As of Q1'2020, Starbreeze's losses were down a big 41% to $9.82 million (97 million SEK), compared to the $18 million (167 million SEK) it lost in 2019.

In the earnings report, Starbreeze CEO Mikael Nermark expressed cautious optimism for the company's roadmap, saying that Payday 2 demand has increased in the quarter. Payday is literally Starbreeze's only cash crop, and Payday 2 made up 98% of total revenues for the quarter.

Ford has announced an interesting new tidbit about it's coming electric vehicle called the Mustang Mach-E. Ford says that the charging time for the electric vehicle is improved by about 30% from early estimates. The automaker says that the Mach-E can add an average of 61 miles of range with only a 10-minute charge using the Electrify America DC fast-charging stations.

The charging estimate is for the extended-range battery and rear-wheel-drive version. Ford also announced that it is expanding its FordPass Charging Network by 1000 charging stations. It's also adding an additional 5000 charge plugs for a total of more than 13,500 stations and almost 40,000 charge plugs in North America.

Ford says that the estimated average of 61 miles of range added with a 10-minute charge is an improvement of 14 miles added with a 10-minute charge over its previous estimates. Ford says that the all-wheel-drive version with the extended-range battery could add an estimated 52 miles of range with a 10-minute charge. Both versions of the vehicle are still able to go from a 10% charge to 80% charge in approximately 38 minutes on a DC fast charging station.

Apple fans looking for a deal on a base model mid-2019 Apple MacBook Air with Retina Display should check this out. Usually, this laptop sells for $1099, but B&H has a sale going right now that knocks $170 off the price of that machine. With the discount, the MacBook Air costs $929.

That may not sound like a monster discount, but Apple notebooks are rarely discounted at all. The machine in question has 128 GB of storage. It has a 1.6 GHz eighth-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a 13.3-inch Retina IPS display.

Native resolution for the Retina display is 2560 x 1600, and graphics are handled by Intel UHD Graphics 617. Only the Silver version is available at the $929 sale price. The Space Gray version is selling for the standard $1099 price tag while the, with 256 GB of storage is available for $1199.99.

Twitch announced that it has developed a new avenue for keeping the community safe and healthy. The Twitch Safety Advisory Council aims to support the growth of the community moving forward. Twitch says that the Council will inform and guide decisions made at Twitch by contributing their experience, expertise, and belief in the Twitch mission of empowering communities to create together.

The Safety Advisory Council will advise on a number of topics that include:

The group is composed of both Twitch creators and online safety experts who all have a deep understanding of the Twitch network, its content, and its community. The Council has both streamers and experts who can provide an external perspective.

Battlemode cheating is a big problem in Doom Eternal--gamers are using the Cheat Engine to do all sorts of crazy things. id and Bethesda responded by slapping Denuvo Anti-Cheat into the game, triggered lots of concern from fans.

Doom Eternal just got a new update on PC that adds some nifty features like empowered demons and new unlockables, but also includes Denuvo's somewhat controversial anti-cheat tech. Denuvo Anti-Cheat isn't the same as Denuvo Anti-Tamper, though. The anti-cheat is a kernel-based driver at the base ring 0 level, meaning it has full and unfettered access to your operating system. That means technically the game can collect data on everything your OS is doing, as well as interfere with critical functions and cause errors like blue screens and even lowered game performance. Some see this as a security risk and are aggravated at the move.

id has been transparent about DAC's inclusion in Doom Eternal with the recent patch notes, and promises the game won't be collecting any sensitive info and shipping it out. id also lays out easy un-installation instructions if you want to play offline. But DAC is required to play Battlemode and I can't actually start Doom Eternal on Steam without updating the game to the newest patched version.

Chromium says that following the Better Adds Standards, it is taken steps to address ads that most people find unacceptable. Chromium Blog writes that it recently discovered that a fraction of a percent of ads consume a significant share of device resources such as battery and network data without the user knowing it. These ads, such as those that mine cryptocurrency, can drain battery life, saturate data networks, and cost users money.

To save the battery life and data plans of users, Chrome will limit the resources a display ad can use before the user interacts with the ad. When the advertisement reaches its limit, the ad frame will navigate to an error page informing the user that the ad has used too many resources. The image below is an example of what an ad removed for using too many resources will look like.

Chromium says to determine threshold limits for the unloading it extensively measured ads Chrome sees. The most egregious ads were targeted, meaning those that use more CPU or network bandwidth than 99.9% of all detected for that resource. Chrome is setting thresholds at 4 MB of network data or 15 seconds of CPU usage in any 30 seconds, or 60 seconds of total CPU usage.

E-commerce giant Amazon has announced that it has filed a lawsuit accusing two companies of what it calls "widespread tech support fraud" that is targeting users of its Alexa devices. The lawsuit was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Seattle against Robojap Technologies in Washington state and Quatic Software Solutions in Punjab, India. The lawsuit also reportedly targets several employees at both companies.

Amazon says that these companies scammed Amazon users by offering to set up Alexa on consumer-owned devices via "fraudulent websites and applications." Amazon says that the companies used "Amazon's trademarks, as well as false and misleading statements about Amazon and [the companies'] services, to divert victims from Amazon's genuine activation process and customer support."

A company spokesperson from Amazon told CNN in a statement that the company works "hard to protect our customers," noting that the "blatant misuse" of the Amazon brand to deceive unsuspecting customers setting up their new device is "appalling." Since the lawsuit has been filed, neither of the companies has responded to inquiries about the suit, according to CNN.

Sony's Fiscal Year 2019 results show a marked decrease in PlayStation hardware adoption and a drop in software sales, but digital ratio is on the rise due to COVID-19.

Sony's latest financials reveal key earnings drops in a number of areas, resulting in a 36% decrease in overall profits and other performance metrics. The results saw drops in yearly revenues, operating income, and overall profits,

Profits are down 36% YoY due to key segment slides like gaming, music, and EP&S, all of which saw net revenue drops. Sony pulled in $5.355 billion in profits attributable to stakeholders in FY19, as compared to $8.262 billion last year.

The mid-range smartphone wars have been raging for years, but things flared up when Apple launched its new 2020 iPhone SE at $399. It wasn't just the price that was so impressive about the iPhone SE. It was that at $399, the device has one of the fastest smartphone processors out there under the hood. A new rumor has turned up about another contender that's aiming to knock the new iPhone SE off its perch and take over as the king of the mid-range smartphone market.

The rumor claims that the Google Pixel 4a will launch with a price tag of $349 for the base 128 GB model. That would make the smartphone $50 cheaper than the iPhone SE while offering twice as much storage. While it remains to be seen, it would be unlikely the Google Pixel 4a will offer a processor that can compete in performance against the iPhone SE.

Other rumors have suggested that the 4a will have a primary camera with 12-megapixel resolution, the same camera used in the Pixel 4 and the Pixel 3a. Recently, a leak from a case manufacturer showed what is believed to be the final design for the Pixel 4a.

Scientists have hit a new milestone in mixing human cells into animal embryos, as researchers have managed to create a human-mouse hybrid.

As reported by ScienceNews, and is something out of a science-fiction horror movie, researchers have reached a new milestone in the stem cell field by modifying human cell proteins and successfully adding them to mice embryos. This is the first time researchers were able to add a large amount of human cells to an animal. The scientists let the embryos develop for 17 days, and after that period of time, they observed that human cells spread throughout much of the mice embryo.

The human cells were found in the tissue that would form the heart, brain, and blood. Scientists noted that all mice that were given this treatment didn't have the same percentage of human cells found in tissues throughout the embryo, but on average, a mouse embryo contained up to 4% human cells. So why do this? Scientists believe that if they can get a firm understanding of stem cell research that one day they will be able to use pigs, for example, to grow human organs that could be used to save lives of people who need them. If you are interested in reading more about this subject, check out this link here.

Razer has kicked off an interesting new pilot program in Singapore, where the gaming peripheral giant is offering a free COVID-19 fask mask... but it has some (green) strings attached to it. First, check out the #RazerForLife video:

Back when the COVID-19 pandemic first started spreading throughout the globe, many companies were quick off their feet in reacting to it and transitioning supply chains to making face masks and ventilators. Razer was one of those companies, and is now running a new pilot program that is will make one free surgical mask for every resident that is 16 years or older in Singapore.

It is a pilot program just for now, running between May 12 to June 2 with 20 vending machines spread throughout Singapore. Razer will have a full rollout throughout Singapore right as the local shelter-in-place orders are lifted.

Netflix reduced the streaming quality of its video down to just HD back a couple of months ago in March 2020, after millions of people were stuck at home and binge watching TV shows and movies.

FlatpanelsHD reports that Netflix streams have returned to normal, with HD by default now in a few countries throughout Europe. The site writes "Denmark, Norway, Germany, and other European countries have contacted FlatpanelsHD or taken to forums to report that streaming quality has been restored, meaning 4K HDR streaming at up to 15 Mb/s bitrate. HD bitrates are also reverting back to normal".

A statement from a Netflix spokesperson to FlatpanelsHD explains: "Please note, we are working with ISPs to help increase capacity. In the last month alone we have added four times the normal capacity. As conditions improve we will lift these limitations".

The Boring Company has just announced it has completed its excavation work under the streets of Las Vegas, finishing up on the second of two tunnels this week.

Elon Musk's not-so-boring Boring Company first began its work under the streets of Vegas in February 2020, just under a year after the Las Vegas Convention and Vistors Authority (LVCVA) announced the project. Now the "Convention Center Loop" is closer to completion than ever before.

The LVCVA is expecting to take around 4000 people per hour through the LVCC venue inside of Tesla autonomous vehicles, which will save a bunch of time. It takes around 15 minutes to walk across the LVCC, but just two minutes inside of the Boring Company's upcoming Loop.

NVIDIA launched its next generation Ampere GPU architecture during its online GTC 2020 keynote, with company founder and CEO Jensen Huang delivering the GPU Technology Conference 2020 keynote from his house.

The first GPU on the Ampere architecture announced was the new A100, which you can read all about right here -- as well as the new DGX A100 supercomputer, which you can read about here. The new DGX A100 supercomputer is an absolutely beast, rolling out as a third-generation AI supercomputer from NVIDIA super-charged by the Ampere GPU architecture and ridiculously fast A100 GPU.

NVIDIA's new DGX A100 supercomputer is now helping the fight against COVID-19, with Rick Stevens, associate laboratory director for Computing, Environment and Life Sciences at Argonne, explaining: "We're using America's most powerful supercomputers in the fight against COVID-19, running AI models and simulations on the latest technology available, like the NVIDIA DGX A100".