Latest News - Page 1660

It looks like coronavirus / COVID-19 is making waves in the delivery market (I'm surprised it took this long), with delivery startups like Postmates now offering customers a "non-contact delivery option" for those worried about contracting COVID-19.

It's not just Postmates though, with Instacart also implementing a similar non-contact strategy. The company saw a 10x increase in sales this week compared to the week before, as customers were concerned over coronavirus / COVID-19 so the company offered its customers a "leave it at my door option" instead.

Postmates explained the move to TechCrunch, with a spokesperson from the delivery startup saying: "Community health and safety is paramount at Postmates, and we have shared precautionary CDC guidance with our Postmates. Customers have an option to designate the drop-off of item without contact; and we'll continue to encourage employees, merchants and consumers to follow preventative measures. While we are operating with business as usual, we are tracking the situation closely and will help provide the resources necessary to mitigate increased risks".

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (also known as Halo: CEA) launched on the PC not too long ago, part of the family of Halo games included in the Halo: Master Chief Collection -- but now there's a new update that fixes some issues.

343 Industries pushed out the update for PC and Xbox One gamers, and while the PC version (on both the Microsoft Store/Xbox Game Pass for PC) comes in at just 1.79GB, the Steam version is much smaller at 306MB... but holy balls, the Xbox One update for Halo: Master Chief Collection is a hefty 58.9GB.

What does patch deliver? You will get an option in the Settings menu to change between the original audio from Halo: Combat Evolved, to the new audio from Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary edition. If you're an old school Halo fan like me, you will enjoy that original audio.

Apple has joined the growing list of tech companies asking its employees to work from home over coronavirus outbreak fears, with Bloomberg reporting that Apple has asked its staff to work from home for now.

The iPhone giant has asked its employees to work from home as an "additional precaution", but it's not forced -- it's a recommendation from Apple, and not a requirement as there are staff that simply can't pick everything up and just work from home. The news joins other companies that are asking their staff to work from home amid coronavirus spreading throughout the planet.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has tweeted: "Apple is encouraging employees in Silicon Valley to work from home today if they can as an "additional precaution." Its local retail stores remain open". Interesting that Apple retail stores are still open, and I wonder how long it'll be until we see those stores possibly being closed if the coronavirus / COVID-19 situation gets worse.

AMD hosted its Financial Analyst Day yesterday, where we found out more details about its next-gen RDNA 2 architecture (which it refers to as Navi 2X and we all referred to it until yesterday as Big Navi).

Not only that, but details about its next-gen Zen 3 and Zen 4 architectures for future-generation CPUs, as well as some new information on the next-gen Microsoft Xbox Series X and Sony PlayStation 5 consoles. AMD's executive vice president of computing and graphics, Rick Bergman, said during the Financial Analyst Day presentation that both consoles were still on-track for release this year.

Some have been concerned that AMD, Microsoft, and Sony could delay the release of the next-gen Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles over the current issues surrounding coronavirus / COVID-19, but the company said that "next generation on track" for the consoles, adding "coming Holiday 2020". I guess nothing is hurting the supply chain for these companies right now, and we have nothing to be concerned about when it comes to next-gen gaming console releases later this year.

AMD has been kicking all sorts of CPU ass in the desktop CPU market against Intel, but it is about to bring the Zen pain to the gaming notebook world this year... and even coronavirus can't stop it.

Now we have some leaked goodness on an upcoming ASUS TUF Gaming notebook, which packs the flagship AMD Ryzen 9 4900H processor (45W TDP), while another option is on the table for the Ryzen 9 4900HS (35W TDP). Both of these laptops with the Ryzen 9 4900H/HS processors will have 8 cores / 16 threads of Zen 2-based CPU goodness at up to (around) 4.2GHz boost. But now, we have some pictures to share thanks to our friends at VideoCardz.

This isn't the first time we've seen the Ryzen 9 4900HS on leaks, with the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 notebook leaked, packing the Ryzen 9 4900HS processor, a 14-inch QHD display, 16GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Max-Q graphics card with 6GB of GDDR6 memory, and a 1TB SSD.

AMD revealed more details about its next-gen RDNA 2 architecture during its recent Financial Analyst Day, where we now (unfortunately) need to call "Big Navi" something else: RDNA 2, or Navi 2X.

The next-gen RDNA 2-based Radeon RX reference graphics cards from AMD have been confirmed to not use blower-style designs, with ex-NVIDIA and now current Vice President and General Manager for Radeon, Scott Herkelman, explaining that "there will be no blower reference fans for gamers on next gen".

AMD will however, not be stopping AIB partners from making blower design coolers on their cards if they so wish -- but AMD has been listening to feedback in a big way. Herkelman added: "Our AIBs may choose to do a "blower" design on any of the next gen GPUs, however, the majority of feedback we received from the community at the launch of 5700 XT on AMD reference designs has guided us towards dual/tri-axial designs. I'm excited for you all to see them when the time is right!"

NVIDIA is in full preparation for its now digital-only GPU Technology Conference (GTC), which kicks off on March 22 -- but between now and then we have some very super-juicy rumored specs on the Ampere GA100 GPU.

There is only a single source for this leak from a Chinese forum, with the folks at Wccftech picking it up and running with it. The Ampere GA100 GPU in question looks like an absolute beast, with this rumor concentrating on the full-fat GA100 GPU with a huge 8192 CUDA cores (at 2GHz which is crazy), 1024 Tensor Cores, 130 RT cores, and a whopping 48GB of HBM2e memory at 1.2GHz.

We're looking at a huge 36 TFLOPs of performance from GA100, with NVIDIA using TSMC's current 7nm+ node, and a huge 300W TDP. This is not a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or next-gen Ampere-based TITAN RTX, but it would rather be the flagship Tesla card for HPC/servers. We should expect a cut down version of this to arrive in the form of the GA102 -- and power the next-gen GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and hopefully, a monster new TITAN RTX based on Ampere.

EA just cancelled another Star Wars game, and we have to wonder what Disney's new CEO thinks about the publisher's track record.

Disney just got a new CEO, and he could shake things up on the game development level. Bob Iger recently stepped down as Disney's CEO and now company alum Bob Chapek is in the big seat. In the past, Iger said he's happy with the 10-year deal with EA despite the growing number of game cancellations and timeline disruptions. Will Chapek feel the same way?

The major deciding factor whether or not EA gets to keep the license is costs vs sales revenues. If Disney is spending more money to make the games than the games are actually pulling in, then we could see a hand-off to another publisher. There's compelling arguments for and against EA keeping the exclusive game license.

For Resident Evil 3's terrifying villain, Nemesis isn't just a name--it's a way of life. You're never safe from the walking mutant tank.

Nemesis is a lot like Alien: Isolation's xenomorph. The S.T.A.R.s-obsessed monstrosity is relentless in his pursuit and will stop at nothing to just annihilate Jill every chance he gets. And like the terrifying alien, Nemesis will hunt you at any point in the game.

As per Resident Evil 3 producer Peter Fabiano, Nemesis can even smash through safe rooms to test your mettle. Basically Resident Evil 3 doesn't really have safe rooms because you're never actually safe from Nemesis. I can already feel my anxiety rising.

The Turbo Grafx 16 mini won't release this month as planned thanks to coronavirus supply chain disruption.

Konami's foray into the mini-console craze has been pushed back to an undetermined timeframe. The company today announced both its Turbo Grafx 16 and PC Engine micro-consoles have been delayed indefinitely thanks to the new worldwide COVID-19 health risk.

"Regarding the TurboGrafx-16 mini console and its peripheral accessories, the manufacturing and shipping facilities in China have encountered an unavoidable suspension due to the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. As a result, the delivery of all TurboGrafx-16 mini products, which was originally scheduled for March 19th, 2020, will be delayed until further notice.

If chill cyberwave music was made into a video game, it'd look a lot like this new indie Cloudpunk.

Cloudpunk might be industry's new ultimate palate cleanser. You know what I mean. Every gamer has a palate cleanser; it's one of those games you play to just kind of zone out to. Those small, simplistic slices of gaming you play to basically detoxify yourself from the insane pressures of Call of Duty or Apex Legends. I think for a lot of people mobile games are palate cleansers, but for dedicated gamers, titles like Minecraft or even No Man's Sky fit the bill nicely.

Cloudpunk, a new indie from indie studio Ion Lands, is one such game. It's a serene sci-fi sim that really underlines the simple things in 20xx life, and floating by its mesmerizing future cities inside your hovercar inspires a kind of cybernetic zen. A new gameplay trailer had an interesting calming effect on me, proving that sometimes you just want to zoom around in your Fifth Element cab and make deliveries.

Developers won't have to make two separate hardware-specific optimizations for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The new generation-defining feature is easily scalable for developers.

Next-gen consoles have been built from the ground up to empower developers. A big part of that power is versatile and flexible dev tools, APIs, and OS-driven software stacks that make everything much more efficient for developers. These pieces are critical as devs learn the new hardware and also scale their older games to run better on next-gen systems. Remember, current-gen and next-gen will overlap, and devs will release games on both generations at the same time.

Luckily, ray tracing is something that devs won't have to sweat too much. AMD's new RDNA 2 architecture, which supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing, is unified across platforms and lets devs easily translate ray tracing features from one console to the next. This is huge for devs making multi-platform games (a segment that comprises the bulk of the entire industry) on both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

A new job listing for Avalanche Software seeks a lighting wizard for a "soon to be announced AAA title," and it's probably that new Harry Potter game.

According to a job listing filed just yesterday, WB Games is gearing up for a big game reveal. Since it's Avalanche's game, we expect it to be the new Wizarding World RPG. "Avalanche Software, a WB Games studio, seeks a Lighting Technical Artist to work closely with a talented group of artists and engineers on an exciting, soon to be announced AAA title," reads the listing.

"The Lighting Technical Artist will work closely with a team to create visually stunning lighting and ambiance for real-world settings and will contribute to the overall aesthetic beauty of the game. The successful candidate will work to create and optimize UE4 light setups in addition to working with our proprietary time of day lighting system"

When researchers look out into the vastness of space, there are many mysteries to be solved, but one, in particular, has puzzled researchers for quite some time.

That mystery is dark matter. Dark matter cannot be observed directly, but researchers know that its there due to how other objects in the cosmos react to its gravity. Unfortunately, researchers have been strapped for answers when it comes to explaining the origin of dark matter and the role it played and is still playing in the creation of the universe. A new study conducted by researchers located at the University of New York may have answered these head-scratching questions.

The researchers explain that dark matter's secret might be located in a specific type of particle called d-star hexaquark. Researchers who worked on the paper say that these d-star hexaquarks might've been in extremely high quantities at the time of the Big Bang. They also state that they may have formed together to become a fifth state of matter known as Bose-Einstein condensate as they cooled. According to Professor Daniel Watts of the University of York, "The origin of dark matter in the universe is one of the biggest questions in science and one that, until now, has drawn a blank."

AMD talked about its next-gen Zen 3 architecture during its recent Financial Analyst Day, which will be followed up by the Zen 4 architecture the year after.

AMD has promised that its Zen 3 architecture be introduced later this year, while consumer CPUs powered by the Zen 3 architecture will arrive in March 2021. After that, we can expect the Zen 4 architecture in 2022, where I presume we'll see them introduced sometime in 2021 after Zen 3 has been firmly planted into our hearts.

The new Zen 3 processors will arrive as next-gen Ryzen 4000 series CPUs and on the 7nm node, while the Zen 4-based Ryzen 5000 series CPUs will arrive on the newer, and smaller 5nm process. We should expect a pretty big increase in performance with the new Zen 3 architecture, unlike the upgrades over the Zen architecture with the new Zen 2 architecture.

AMD has finally talked about its next generation "Big Navi" graphics cards, which from now on in will be called RDNA 2 or "Navi 2X" -- I kinda liked the name Big Navi, though. AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su did say that AMD was preparing Big Navi to compete with NVIDIA, as the high-end GPU market is "very important" to the company.

During its recent Financial Analyst Day, AMD came out swinging talking about its warpath against its competitors in Intel and NVIDIA -- where it revealed that its next-gen discrete graphics cards will be based on the RDNA 2 architecture.

The company is referring to RDNA 2 as "Navi 2X" which will arrive on the 7nm node, but it also teased RDNA 3 or "Navi 3X" on an "Advanced Node", too. RDNA 3 / Navi 3X should be on the 7nm+ node, or the 5nm node -- something I'm going to need to clarify.

Gamers absolutely love cross-play support for their titles, as it opens up a whole new realm of enjoyment when gamers can enjoy the game they love with people from other platforms.

It's even better when gamers can share save files between platforms as well. Well, that's exactly what Gearbox Software is giving Borderlands 3 players, according to the developers' recent announcement. Gearbox says that when players launch Borderlands 3 on Steam for the first time, and on Epic after installing a brand new patch, they will be prompted with a "PC Cross-Play" screen.

This prompt will give players the option to enable/disable cross-play between these platforms. If a player chooses to enable cross-play, he/she will be able to queue up with fellow gamers on the other platform. I think the 'disabling' part is quite self-explanatory. On top of that juicy cross-play goodness, PC players will be able to transfer save data between Steam and the Epic Games Store. This means players won't have to worry about starting all over again if they decide to jump platform. Side note - Gearbox does warn players who decide to do this have a risk of loosing their save files. So backups will be necessary if this is what you want to do.

While Microsoft's Flight Simulator is still in its alpha phase, that hasn't stopped the game from looking simply gorgeous.

In the entirety of this article, you will find a fresh set of screenshots reinforcing how incredible Flight Simulator looks. The screenshots show off next-gen graphics in the form of environments, airplanes, cities, landscapes, and more. If you didn't know, Microsoft's Flight Simulator will have dynamic seasons. This means as players are flying around the game world they will experience what it's like to operate a vehicle while having to deal with seasonal weather difficulties such as rain, snow, heat, and more.

Microsoft Flight Simulator will also use real-time weather data, which means if a storm is happening in your area, players will be able to take a plane and fly right into to see what happens. On top of that incredible technology, Microsoft is introducing an amazingly realistic world, as seen in the screenshots. At the moment, there isn't a release date in place for Microsoft's Flight Simulator, but as soon as there is one, I will be sure to update you in a follow-up post.

The world of streaming is getting very, very interesting as big-name streamers are being fought over by streaming platforms.

As other companies begin to slowly build their streaming platforms, they have been poaching streamers from Twitch. A couple that spring to mind at Ninja, and Shroud who have both gone over to Microsoft's Mixer. Another streamer that could be mentioned is the biggest Super Smash Bros. streamer, ZeRo, who has now gone over to Facebook Gaming. As you can see, Twitch is losing some of its biggest players when it comes to streaming, so they have now decided to consolidate.

Most, if not all, of these streamers that have left Twitch, have been offered big paychecks or even bigger opportunities over at respective platforms. As business people, it would be silly to not test the waters over a competing platform, as more growth could come to fruition out of nowhere. Twitch now wants to offer streamers the same kind of opportunities to stay on its platform, and a great example of that is Pokimane, who recently announced that her feet are firmly planted in the world of Twitch streaming. Check out the above video to find out why.

Yesterday, NASA announced that they would be revealing the official name for their Mars rover, and now that its live-stream is complete, we know what to call Curiosity's successor.

If you haven't been following along with the naming process, NASA took to the public, and more specifically, school children from the years of kindergarten to year 12 to figure out a name for the new Mars rover. The rover's name was decided by an essay contest. Participants across the country were required to write an essay detailing why they believed NASA's new rover should be named whatever name they chose.

Those 28,000 essays were then voted on by 4,700 volunteer judges, and that 28,000 was boiled down to just 155. From there, judges then managed to get the 155 down to just nine finalists, then those finalists were voted on by the public. The winner was the seventh-grader Alexander Mather from lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia. Mather chose "Perseverance" for the rover's new name, and has also been invited to watch the launch of the rover this Summer from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.