Latest News - Page 1764

Colonization of other planets may have just hit a speed bump, as a new study has indicated that humans in microgravity environments have their gut severely affected.

According to a new study by biomedical scientists at the University of California, Riverside, humans that are induced in simulated microgravity, such as spaceflights, have been found to have disrupted the functioning of their epithelial barrier. The epithelial barrier is a bunch of cells that line our intestines and stop any bacteria, fungi, or viruses from spreading throughout our body.

Declan McCole, a professor of biomedical sciences at the UC Riverside School of Medicine, who led the study, said "Our findings have implications for our understanding of the effects of space travel on intestinal function of astronauts in space, as well as their capability to withstand the effects of agents that compromise intestinal epithelial barrier function following their return to Earth."

Halo: Reach finally launches on the PC and Xbox One on December 3, and now Microsoft has confirmed you won't get bored of the game quickly -- as it will launch with a simply insane 6.2 million maps.

The game will launch with 6.2 million maps that includes both the normal "legacy" maps and millions of community-created Halo maps, millions of maps that were built for Halo 3, Halo: Reach, and Halo 4 that will be available for Halo: Reach games to download and then play in.

Halo: Reach will work differently on the Xbox One compared to the PC, where on the Xbox One it will join The Master Chief Collection, with the new maps being found through the file finder. On the PC however, the expansive collection of maps will reside within Halo: Reach only as games included in The Master Chief Collection launch individually.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX and GeForce RTX gamers will want to jump on the latest GeForce Game Ready 441.41 drivers, which include optimizations for Halo: Reach that is about to drop on the PC, and offers optimal support for the new Quake II RTX v1.2 update.

Game Ready for Halo: Reach means that you get the latest performance optimizations, profiles and bug fixes from NVIDIA for the game -- while you get optimal support for the latest version of Quake II RTX, which provides even better quality graphics, water reflections, and ray tracing goodness.

There's also some issues fixed with Red Dead Redemption 2 when SLI is enabled and you're running Vulkan, while both Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Forza Horizon 4 get some tweak love in the new GeForce 441.41 drivers. The big note here is the strange "known issue" about V-Sync which NVIDIA outright says in the new drivers: "V-Sync does not work". Alrighty.

NVIDIA very quietly updated its Tesla range of graphics cards in the last 24 hours, introducing the new Tesla V100s graphics card that packs a faster Volta GPU and quicker HBM2 memory.

The new Tesla V100s (note the small 's', I guess this means 'SUPER' in the Volta sense) is pretty much just as faster version of the original Tesla V100, with the same GV100 GPU on the 12nm node and the same 5120 CUDA cores -- but it's the clock speed and memory bandwidth that are impressive.

NVIDIA's original Tesla V100 has its GV100 GPU boost clock at up to 1367MHz resulting in 14 TFLOPs of compute performance, while the new Tesla V100s has its GV100 GPU at up to 1601MHz boost clock which results in 16.4 TFLOPs of compute performance.

AMD only just unleashed their crazy awesome new Ryzen Threadripper 3970X processor (our review here) and it has already been used to break a bunch of world records.

AMD's new Ryzen Threadripper 3970X is a 32C/64T processor based on the new Zen 2 architecture, and while it has clock speeds of up to 4.5GHz at 280W -- these things are meant to be really pushed, at least for overclockers. A bunch of world records and global ranks have been smashed on HWBot, with the new Ryzen Threadripper 3970X hitting an insane 5.72GHz across all 32 cores.

The huge overclocking feat for the new Ryzen Threadripper 3970X was done on an MSI TRX40 Creator motherboard with 1.1V of power, LN2 cooling, and the talent of overclocker TSAIK in Taiwan. But that wasn't the only HWBot world record broken, as there is a list of new records thanks to AMD's new Ryzen Threadripper 3970X processor:

Sure, there are plenty of tech-focused Black Friday sales but what about a new Star Wars-themed Instant Pot pressure cooker? You can buy the new Star Wars themed Instant Pot directly from Williams Sonoma here.

Williams Sonoma teamed with Instant Pot for the exclusive Star Wars collection, with 5 designs ranging from $80-$120 in price. There are different sized Instant Pots on offer, as well as multiple designs depending on the character you love from Star Wars the most.

The new BB-8 Instant Pot Duo Mini is a 3-quart pressure cooker with the BB-8's signature orange/grey/white theme, it has 11 built-in food programs that include slow cooking, soup/broth, and a warmer. The BB-8 Instant Pot Duo Mini costs $80.

Sony will have its PlayStation 5 console out on November 20, 2020 for $499 according to the latest rumors, while Microsoft will kick Sony's ass with the Xbox Scarlett -- a beefier, but more unknown next-gen Xbox from Microsoft. But what about G-Sync?!

According to a new report from TFT Central, "future G-sync module screens can be capable of supporting both HDMI-VRR and adaptive-sync for HDMI and DisplayPort". This news really piqued my interest, because this means that the next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett consoles could benefit from this move.

Sony and Microsoft will both be using semi-custom AMD chips for their next-gen PS5 and Xbox Scarlett consoles, but they could also benefit from G-Sync-compatible displays. This is where Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) technology comes into play, smoothing out the dips in the FPS and taking away the dreading screen tear effect -- a massive, game-changing win for next-gen consoles.

I didn't think I'd ever be writing about a gaming headset that feeds you mid-game, but it's the end of the decade and Pringles is feeling peckish, and experimental with its strange-but-cool Pringles Headset Hunger Hammer.

Pringles went out and 3D printed a bunch of components, strapped them to a Razer gaming headset -- and voila, a self-feeding gaming headset is born. The headset packs a motorized arm on the side that has a Pringles chip dispensed onto it, slowly positioned to go in front of your mouth -- waiting for you to chomp it down.

The chip maker (and not that type of chip, but the edible kind) thought it would be clever to team up with some Twitch streamers for a Pringles promotional tie-in with Gears 5. The new Hunger Hammer isn't going to be some product that will debut, and more of a fun marketing stunt for Pringles -- so don't blame me if you can't find this headset online, but maybe Fry's Electronics might have some.

Like the Steam Link, the strange one-analog-stick Steam Controller will apparently soon be extinct.

Valve is currently selling its weird Steam Controller for $5 for Black Friday, strongly indicating the experimental peripheral is going the way of the dodo. Valve hasn't explicitly said the hardware has been discontinued, but the massive 90% off discount strongly hints as much. Valve did the same thing when they wanted to get rid of Steam Link inventory back in 2018.

The controller never got a lot of traction because of its odd layout. It features dual touch-pads and one analog stick. You're meant to use the analog stick to move and the right touchpad to change the view in dual-axis games, and the left touchpad is a kind of D-pad. I've tried it out and it just feels too inconvenient.

VR won't be a part of Microsoft's next-gen Project Scarlett console for the foreseeable future, Xbox exec Phil Spencer says.

A bit ago a Microsoft patent for room-scale VR gaming stirred up the internet. Everyone thought it was for Xbox and that Project Scarlett, Microsoft's new ultra-powerful next-gen Xbox console, could get a Windows Mixed Reality headset of some kind, similar to Sony's PlayStation VR. But that's not going to happen any time soon...if ever.

In a recent interview with Stevivor, Xbox division head Phil Spencer confirms VR just isn't important for Microsoft right now. VR is simply too niche. Gamers aren't asking for it, so Microsoft isn't delivering it. Plus it goes against the ethos of the Xbox brand, which is spreading services and games across every device on the planet--in contrast, VR is more locked and closed-off.

Respawn is on a roll: First Apex Legends hit it monumentally big, and now its new Star Wars game is shattering sales milestones.

In its first two weeks on the market, Jedi: Fallen Order became the fastest-selling digital Star Wars game of all time, beating out previous games like Battlefront, Knights of the Old Republic, and even the old-school Dark Forces games (which makes sense because the latter two were mostly physical sales).

EA announced the news today with a lot of fanfare, eager to spread the word that singleplayer Star Wars games are back. The publisher says Jedi: Fallen Order is also the top-selling Star Wars game on PC in its "initial launch window," and Disney is quite pleased with the game's performance.

Blizzard is slashing prices on its biggest games ahead of Black Friday, including Overwatch, Diablo, and even Activision's Call of Duty.

Blizzard's new Black Friday deals are now live on the Blizzard Shop, offering some decent savings on Overwatch (discounted to $15) and other games.

Battle for Azeroth is discounted to $25, which is pretty good, and Diablo III with Reaper of Souls can be had for $20, which isn't bad either.

Rumor has it Rockstar's next game will be the fabled Project Medieval, a new IP that's set in the age of knights and bloody sworfights. But the details don't exactly add up.

(Art credit: Denis Rybchak)

Rockstar's next game might not be Grand Theft Auto 6 or Bully 2, but a nifty-sounding romp similar to Kingdom Come: Deliverance. At least that's what new rumors would lead you to believe. The rumors circle around the now-edited LinkedIn page of Pawel Saxenas, a character artist for Rockstar Games' India branch, who lists a new IP on the page. The original non-edited page mentioned "medieval architectural style," but this was later removed.

THQ Nordic announced a new Darksiders game earlier this year and its going to be taking a different route from the previous titles.

Darksiders Genesis will take a top-down approach in the new game and will take players to a fight in hell. Players will take the reins of the last of the four horsemen, Strife, and carve their way through hordes of demons on their hunt for Lucifer. War will also be accompanying Strife on his quest, and it should be noted that the events of this game are occurring after the War of Eden.

Moving on to the PC requirements for the game. PC players will have to be using Windows 7, 8, or 10 (64-bit only), at least a CPU that is an AMD FX-8320 or Intel Core i5-4690K, have 4GB of RAM and at least have an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD equivalent. How much space will it take up? Now, this is the most surprising part, Darksiders Genesis will only require 15GB of HDD space. Doesn't that sound tiny for a full game? I think so.

After Capcom saying that they would love for the Devil May Cry franchise to come to the Nintendo Switch, they have finally announced that the third game will be making its way over soon.

The good news has been pulled from the official Capcom UK Twitter account where they say that a 'Special Edition' of Devil May Cry 3 will soon be arriving on the handheld console. According to the announcement, Capcom will release Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition on the Nintendo Switch early next year for only $20.

Back in late June, Capcom announced the first Devil May Cry for the Nintendo Switch and while they originally said they have no plans on bringing the sequels (2 and 3) over, plans have since changed. Like I said back in June, Capcom was just waiting for some numbers to back up their decision on porting the two sequels, and now that they have those numbers, they have no reason to not bring them over to Nintendo's console.

Tesla's newly announced cybertruck has divided truck lovers everywhere with its peculiar looking design. But do more people hate it more than love it?

The above map is based on geotagged Twitter data that has been scraped over the past 12 hours. The data was accumulated through tracking over 100,000 tweets on the hashtag #cybertruck. Within those tweets, the phrases; I hate it, I love it, I hate the design, I love the design, ugly and awesome were also tracked.

From those statistics partcatalog put together the above map, giving a visual representation of how each of the states feels about Tesla's cybertruck. From the map, we can see that the feels are pretty divided, with 19 states loving it and 31 states absolutely hating it. The map also indicates that there is a regional component at play as well, with the West Coast and Northeast hating it the most.

After the ending of Game of Thrones back in May, fans have long hoped that the final season would get a remake. Perhaps this is a teaser for it?

A simple Tweet from the official Game of Thrones Twitter account has caused fans to put their speculation caps on. While I would certainly doubt that HBO is going to remake season 8 of Game of Thrones, some fans believe this could be a hint towards that very announcement.

It's much more likely that the Game of Thrones Twitter account is teasing fans for an announcement regarding the coming Game of Thrones prequel show -- House of the Dragon. House of the Dragon is centered around House Targaryen and will focus on the book Fire & Blood, which reveals a lot of the Targaryen's history. Another theory about the Tweet is that the Game of Thrones Twitter account is just warning everyone that Winter is actually coming in real-life. This would be a hilarious joke, but probably not the one Game of Thrones fans want to hear at the moment.

Originally, astronomers believed that the galaxy NGC 6240 was a result of two galaxies merging together. Recently that theory has been thwarted with newly discovered information.

Astronomers are observing NGC 6240, which is located about 400 million light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus. For quite some time, astronomers have been confused by this galaxy, but recently a new study has been conducted using the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT,) along with the advanced 3D MUSE Spectrograph. This study has shone a new light on NGC 6240, revealing to researchers that the galaxy isn't a result of two colliding galaxies, but instead three.

The most surprising part is that originally, astronomers believed there to be two black holes located at the heart of NGC 6240 (the two galaxies). But after the recent study was finished, astronomers have now discovered that there are three supermassive black holes there, marking the first time ever that astronomers have discovered such a large concentration of them. Dr Peter Weilbacher of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) said, "Up until now, such a concentration of three supermassive black holes had never been discovered in the universe. The present case provides evidence of a simultaneous merging process of three galaxies along with their central black holes."

Researchers have managed to create the very first quantum computing benchmark, paving the way forward for more universal standards of measuring their immense performance.

Researchers out of the University of Waterloo have developed a new form of quantum computing benchmarking called 'cycle benchmarking'. This new form of benchmarking allows researchers to see the potential scalability of the quantum computer that's being tested, while also being able to compare the results to another. Joel Wallman, an assistant professor at Waterloo's Faculty of Mathematics and Institute for Quantum Computing, said "This finding could go a long way toward establishing standards for performance and strengthen the effort to build a large-scale, practical quantum computer".

This new method records the total probability of errors under any quantum computing application. This means that this benchmark marks the first time that researchers will be able to compare the capabilities of quantum processors that are customized for specific applications. This new breakthrough couldn't of come at a better time, with companies like Google, IBM and Microsoft all slowly but surely making progress in the quantum computing field.

Nintendo is pushing for Mario to become the most recognizable character in media, and while he is already the face of gaming, this isn't enough. Nintendo wants more.

Mario's creator Shigeru Miyamoto wants Mario to be Nintendo's character the leads the frontal assault on Disney. The eventual plan is for Nintendo to replace Disney's Mickey Mouse and for Mario to become the most recognizable character in media. Nintendo is planning on doing this with the Super Nintendo World currently being constructed in Universal Studios Japan, an upcoming Super Mario movie, and some personality changes. According to Miyamoto, Mario's personality will be changing a bit to combat those pesky parents who are still keeping their children from playing video games.

Nintendo has a problem with this because those same parents are much more likely to allow their children to watch Disney movies, meaning Nintendo is losing out on a huge market of character influence. To tap into that market, Miyamoto says that Mario's development will convert from being quite strict to more loose, opening the character up to more possibilities. This change in Mario's personality is a reflection of Nintendo's interest in "creating greater opportunities for a larger audience to enjoy [the Mario universe]."