Latest News - Page 1704

YouTuber and self-proclaimed professional sweatlord SpudHunter annihilates the cyberdemon boss in Doom Eternal, showing us how buttery-smooth and chaotic the shooter can be.

Doom Eternal is absolutely bonkers. The game's slayer gates, which are basically contained arena slaughterfests, have a heart-thumping pace that's straight out of a Quake Champions match. A new bit of gameplay footage from SpudHunter exhibits the pure havoc of Doom Eternal's dance of death; all the mad dashing, double-jumps, circling, comboing with weapons, glory kills, and of course ridiculously powerful enemies at every turn.

Just like a deathmatch map, the environments are just tailor-made for you to bounce around and unleash carnage. The footage shows some rather explosive (and ridiculous) weapons like a four-barreled mini-gun, and even a super shotgun grappling hook mod that catches enemies on fire while yanking you towards them. And yes, there's a crossbow that shoots arcs of lava.

A new discovery has been made in the world of astrophysics, but unfortunately, this has got people scratching their heads as it's broken any existing explanations.

Fast Radio Bursts (FRB) was first detected back in 2007, and while humans first came across them, then it was most likely that there were bouncing around the universe since it's creation. Now, researchers have detected some FRB's coming all the way from deep space, while the occurrence of FRB's is initially quite rare, that isn't what has got researchers both excited and puzzled. These FRB's are coming in the form of a pattern.

Usually, when an FRB is detected, its source is traced back to what is assumed to stars colliding with each other. What has puzzled researchers this time around is the pattern of the new FRB, as it suggests something else is going on out in the universe and that the source is pumping out radio energy in certain timing. Researchers from Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst Project detected the FRB back in 2019. Then in January 2020, they published a paper detailing that they found more than one burst from the source.

An Apple engineer who was killed in a fatal Tesla car crashed in March, 2018 had previously reported issues with Tesla's Autopilot system.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) documents that were shared just this past Tuesday, Apple engineer Walter Huang had previously reported that his Tesla car steered away from the highway. Reuters reported that Huang's brother said that Huang discussed how the car swerved towards the highway barrier with him. Huang also reportedly complained to Tesla about the issue, but their response was that they couldn't replicate the problem.

Tesla also said that it was Huang's fault and that he ignored several "hands-on warnings" that prompted him to take control of the wheel. Huang's family filed a lawsuit against Tesla, claiming that Huang's vehicle (Model X) was "defective" in its design. Not too long ago, US Senator criticized Tesla's Autopilot feature, calling the title of the feature "misleading", check out that story here. It's not all doom and gloom for Tesla's Autopilot feature, back in August last year a driver had a heart attack while driving, and the Autopilot feature saved his life. More on that here.

Astronomers around the world have their eyes fixed on one supergiant star at the moment, Betelgeuse. This star is acting really strange and could very well explode into a glorious supernova.

It wasn't too long ago that I reported on Betelgeuse, and how astronomers are witnessing the supergiant star pulsating and dimming. Astronomers estimate that the star has about 100,000 years left in its life, but what they don't know is why it's dimming at unprecedented rates, raising the question of whether or not it's going to explode sooner rather than later.

Veteran Villanova University astronomer Edward Guinan and his team have collated some brand new data, which indicates that Betelgeuse could be in the middle of a 430-day pulsation period. The end of that pulsation period is estimated to be on February 21st and should bring the star to its dimmest state yet. Guinan says, "So something very unusual is going on" as Betelgeuse even now appears to be dimmer than what he and his team expected it to be.

What if I told you that the United States intelligence agencies secretly owned a device manufacturing company that provided both foreign country officials, and U.S. officials with devices they could listen to?

According to a new report by the Washington Post and ZDF, the United States intelligence agencies secretly owned and ran a company that supplied government spy officials with devices that allowed them to listen in to all communications. The report by WAPO and ZDF detail how the CIA, NSA, and Western German intelligence ran in secret one of the world's largest encrypted communications supplier called Crypto AG.

Foreign governments were reportedly paying the U.S. and West Germany "good money" for supplying them with secrets from these devices that were recording all communications between spy officials. Even U.S. officials weren't safe from the phony devices, with the report saying that higher-up officials insisted that the rigged devices be sent to all persons, ally or not. Crypto AG didn't just make rigged devices either. The report states that two versions were made -- one for friendly governments (select countries/persons) and the other rigged systems that would be provided to the rest of the world. For more information about this discovery, check out this link here.

A new report has come out regarding two Russian satellites that are closing in on a billion-dollar U.S spy satellite that is currently orbiting Earth.

According to John W. Raymond, who is the General of the United States Space Force, and serves as the Space Force's first Chief of Space Operations, "It has the potential to create a dangerous situation in space". The Russian satellite is only 100 miles from the U.S spy satellite, and other U.S experts have expressed their concerns on what the Russian craft will be able to learn from close-up images.

Fox News reports that the Russian's have said that the satellites are simply conducting experiments. Fox News also says that an amateur satellite tracker used public data to check out the motives of the Russian satellite, and found that it's "clearly designed" to monitor the U.S satellite. Raymond said to Time, " It's clear that Russia is developing on-orbit capabilities that seek to exploit our reliance on space-based systems that fuel our American way of life."

Data leaks are never good, and as the internet is adopted by more and more people every day, hackers are continuously finding holes in business networks and leaking sensitive data online.

In this instance, we are talking about JailCore, which is a correctional facility management and compliance cloud-based application. vpnMentor, who is a cybersecurity research team, found that 36,077 files were leaked online from an Amazon server linked back to JailCore. Now, these files were nothing to roll your eyes at, as they contain sensitive information for inmates in detention centers located in the following states; Flordia, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

The data leak is a large threat to the inmates whose sensitive information was exposed, as criminals who are outside of prison and have nefarious motives can easily steal a person/s identity. The leak contained data in the following categories; prescription records, dosage amounts, correctional officer names, inmates' full names, headcounts, inmate ID, dates of birth, cell locations, officer audit logs, mugshots, inmate activity records, and much more. If you are interested in checking out what else was leaked online, visit this link here.

Every year, most car manufacturers have a new vehicle model coming out, and now that we are well into 2020, what vehicles are the most anticipated?

According to a new study conducted by Partcatalog, who analyzed Google Trends data between the dates of January 1st and February 1st found that Americans are most excited for Ford's new vehicle -- the Ford Bronco. The above map showcases each state and what they are most excited about in terms of brand and vehicle.

In summary, the following vehicles were the most popular; Ford Bronco - 19 states, Chevy Corvette Stingray - 13 states, Land Rover Defender - 6 states, Porsche Taycan - 5 states, Tesla Model Y - 3 states, Rivian R1T - 2 states, Ford Mustang Mach-E - 2 states. If you are after any more statistics like this, a new info-graph is released every month regarding vehicles. Be sure to check back here soon for more.

Well, Activision-Blizzard has just fired a gigantic warning shot towards NVIDIA by removing massive games from its just-launched game streaming service GeForce Now.

NVIDIA has announced that Activision-Blizzard have removed its entire catalog of games, something that includes massive favorites like the World of Warcraft franchise, the Call of Duty franchise, Overwatch, and more. NVIDIA said in a statement: "While unfortunate, we hope to work together with Activision Blizzard to reenable these games and more in the future".

It seems things have changed from the GeForce Now beta to the full launch, as NVIDIA was talking to the companies before its launch to make sure they were all good with their games being launched on its upcoming-but-now-launched game streaming service. It seems Activision-Blizzard could've made a last minute change, or screwed NVIDIA over completely. I don't think we'll ever know what happened here.

Another day, another company pulls out of mobile tech show Mobile World Congress -- which is meant to take place in Barcelona, Spain between February 24-27 but at this point, no one will be going.

Facebook has now pulled out of MWC 2020, with the world's largest social media company saying that "evolving public health risks" are the reason behind not attending the show. Facebook explained: "Out of an abundance of caution, Facebook employees won't be attending this year's Mobile World Congress due to the evolving public health risks related to coronavirus".

The social network added: "We will continue to collaborate with the GSMA and our partners and thank them for their efforts". Facebook joins the likes of other massive tech giants in Amazon, Intel, LG, NVIDIA, Samsung, and ZTE that have pulled out of MWC 2020 so far. Mobile World Congress organizers GSMA have reportedly been having "internal meetings" over this all, and I would not be surprised to be writing soon that the entire event itself has been cancelled.

Just about every company attending Mobile World Congress this year has pulled out over the coronavirus outbreak, with Intel joining the growing list of companies removing themselves from MWC.

Intel said in a statement: "The safety and wellbeing of all our employees and partners is our top priority, and we have withdrawn from this year's Mobile World Congress out of an abundance of caution". Intel isn't the only big player pulling out of Mobile World Congress, and joins the likes of Amazon, LG, NVIDIA, Samsung, and ZTE.

Mobile World Congress organizers GSMA are reportedly having internal meetings over the companies pulling out, but the organization declines to comments on these "internal meetings". I'm sure we'll see MWC cancelled entirely in the coming days, as it is meant to have over 100,000 people attend, with around 6000 of those coming in from China. GSMA, however, has said that over 2800 exhibitors still plan to attend MWC 2020.

A new leaked image purportedly shows Modern Warfare's new battle royale mode, Warzone, and it might be free-to-play.

It looks like some internal promo images for Modern Warfare's Warzone BR mode have leaked out, punctuating the recent battle royale hints from Infinity Ward. Users speculate Warzone could be a standalone free-to-play version that won't require Modern Warfare.

This seems iffy to me, especially given the recent update's additions, but it's possible we could see Warzone offered within Modern Warfare as well as outside of it too, complete with bonuses for season pass holders. This would promote maximum engagement and reach via two of gaming's most potent moneymakers: free-to-play and cross-play. Right now Activision-Blizzard is doubling-down on live services and "new engagement models," and this cross-synergy could be big for the brand.

Samsung ships each one of its new Galaxy S20 smartphones with a gloriously smooth 120Hz display, with the new Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra packing Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity-O displays.

But one thing Samsung wasn't too clear on was the native resolutions of the displays, and what you'll get out of the box. Out of the box Samsung is configuring the Galaxy S20 family of smartphones with its native 3200 x 1440 resolution -- but at 60Hz. If you want that slick 120Hz goodness you'll need to drop down to 2400 x 1080.

Not only that, but Samsung has bumped up the touch response on the Galaxy S20/S20+/S20 Ultra to a much higher 240Hz. This means you'll feel the phone feeling faster, as well as it being at a much faster 120Hz refresh rate.

Samsung has finally unveiled their family of Galaxy S20 smartphones, including the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra -- all of which can shoot 8K video.

Underneath the Galaxy S20 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, 12GB of RAM (16GB on the Galaxy S20 Ultra), and an insane array of cameras (64-megapixel on the Galaxy S20/S20+ and an even more insane 108-megapixel snapper on the Galaxy S20 Ultra). All of which allow for 8K 30FPS video support.

Samsung explains: "Pro-Grade Filming Capability: The Galaxy S20 offers stunning 8K video shooting, so users can capture their world in true-to-life color and quality. When you are done shooting, stream your video to a Samsung QLED 8K and enjoy its best-in-class viewing experience3 or grab a still from an 8K video and turn it into a high-res photo. And, even the bumpiest videos look like they were shot using an action cam, thanks to Super Steady and its anti-rolling stabilization and AI motion analysis".

Samsung has just unveiled their family of Galaxy S20 smartphones at its own Unpacked event, where Netflix walked up on stage to announce it had partnered with Samsung on some new exclusive content for Samsung's new smartphones.

Netflix Chief Marketing Officer, Jackie Lee-Joe, said: "The mission of this partnership to make the Netflix viewing experience on Samsung mobile the absolute best it can be". Netflix has now become Samsung's entertainment partner, with Netflix announcing that "product integration will be improved".

What does this mean exactly? It means that Samsung's virtual assistant will be capable of searching for, and playing content on Netflix. Not only that, but the dedicated bonus content for Samsung's new smartphones will hopefully be announced in the near future. Samsung explained: "Users can also discover Netflix's best-in-class content through improved integration with Galaxy devices, enabling ease of content discovery and accessibility via Samsung Daily, Bixby, and Finder".

At one point Cliff Bleszinski's now-closed studio, Boss Key Productions, was in talks to make a brand new shooter based in the Alien franchise...and it sounds pretty damn cool.

Games are constantly cancelled, delayed, or put in cold storage for years. Most of the time we don't get to hear about these projects, but sometimes we get slivers of info that give us an idea of what could've been. Gears of War and Unreal developer Cliff Bleszinski just gave us an a glimpse at an interesting-sounding Aliens shooter that could've been absolutely huge.

Before Boss Key Productions shut down, Bleszinski wanted to make an FPS based around the Alien franchise. The game would've starred a grown-up (and fairly bad-ass) Newt from the 1986 Aliens film and took place on Earth. Ripley would show up, but she'd be a kind of mother that guided you through the game. Newt would also have her own android sidekick just like Ash or Bishop.

A new progress report from Naughty Dog confirms The Last of Us Part II is in the last leg of development.

A bit ago, Naughty Dog delayed their grisly post-apocalyptic sequel to May 2020 because they needed more time to polish and refine. Now the studio says the game is right on track for its new revised launch. Of course there was no talk of the intense crunch the studio is known for, or discussions about how difficult it may have been to make The Last of Us Part II run on the base PS4, the PS4 Pro, and optimize it for the upcoming PlayStation 5 (the latter of which probably inspired the three-month delay).

"We are thrilled to say that we've entered the final stretch of production and are putting the finishing touches on The Last of Us Part II as you read this. The end of development puts us one very large step closer to launch. We know all of you have been so patient over the last few years, so it's been thrilling to see our game taking on its final shape and knowing that means it will be in your hands soon," Naughty Dog director of communications Arne Meyer said in a PlayStation Blog post.

Modern Warfare's new 1.14 patch update is as big as a full AAA game, and may include assets for the upcoming battle royale mode.

Today Infinity Ward rolled out Patch 1.14 for Modern Warfare's big second season, and it's a doozy. The update clocks in at 51GB on PS4, 68GB on Xbox One, and 67GB on PC. A lot of the update replaces existing files in the game while also adding new season 2 content like maps (Rust is coming back), operators (Ghost is back!), weapons, modes, and more.

What's particularly interesting is the disparity between the 1.14 patch notes and the update file size. There's really no reason for it to take up this much space...unless it also includes Modern Warfare's anticipated (and leaked) battle royale mode. Infinity Ward placed several BR hints in the game, and there's a new section marked classified in the startup menu.

Samsung has finally unveiled its new family of Galaxy S20 smartphones, with the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra -- all of which are joined with the exciting new foldable Galaxy Z Flip smartphone.

All of the new Galaxy S20 smartphones roll out with a super-slick 120Hz refresh rate and OLED HDR+ capable display, 5G connectivity, and ridiculous camera rigs. Starting with the new Galaxy S20 we have a 6.2-inch OLED HDR+ display, while the S20+ gets bumped up to a 6.-inch display, and the S20 Ultra has a much larger 6.9-inch display.

The camera systems on each phone are unique, with the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20+ having identical camera rigs with triple-camera setups that boast dual 12-megapixel snappers (1 x wide, 1 x ultra-wide) while you get a larger 64-megapixel telephoto snapper and 10-megapixel selfie camera.

Today 2K Games finally revealed Michael Condrey's new studio, 31st Union, and gives brief details about the team's upcoming game.

2K's Silicon Valley studio has re-branded to 31st Union, a new games studio that ex-Sledgehammer dev Michael Condrey took over in February 2019. While not explicitly outlined in the press release, we know that 31st Union's first game is a multiplayer-driven project (2K loves engagement and monetization, after all).

The announcement confirms what we already know. The Call of Duty and Dead Space vet is making a brand new IP for Take-Two Interactive's 2K Games label, but job listings from June 2019 frame the dimensions of the new IP. "Our first effort is to build a multiplayer and multiplatform AAA action game which will thrill a diverse community of gamers and have fun while doing it," reads a now defunct listing.