Remedy seems to have learned its lesson on optimizing its games before launch, as the developer won't want another Quantum Break which was quantum broken upon launch on the PC.

Thomas Puha, the Head of Communications for Remedy Entertainment took to Resetera and explained about optimization when questioned about Control's performance. Puha said: "That was three years ago. Lot of optimization has happened since. You'll know soon enough".

Control is powered by Remedy Entertainment's in-house Northlight engine, which has had 3 years of work and optimizations in order to better craft it for Control since its time used last with Quantum Break.

We should be worried about being wiped out by a killer pathogen that is specifically designed to kill people of only a particular race, based on their DNA, warns scientists.

A new report from Cambridge University's Centre for the Study of Existential Risk says that world ogvernments have failed when it comes to preparing against threats like futuristic bioweapons powered by AI and genetic manipulation. Such weapons would have to power to target specific DNA, and kill certain races of people leaving other swaths of the population unharmed.

Imagine it being sprayed in the form of the tinfoil hat conspiracy of chemtrails, and wiping out certain portions of the population.

Huawei has announced that its Mate X foldable smartphone has a new release window of November and "ideally not any later", after the slip during its launch a few months ago.

Mate X was meant due in in September after being delayed from its June release, but now TechRadar said that at a press event at Huawei's Shenzhen HQ that it is coming in November. Furthermore, the site found out about the next Mate X and that it "could have more screens, and it might come out as soon as next year".

More displays on a Mate X 2.0 would see Huawei replacing the steel rear cover with a glass back, that could see touchscreens deployed. Now that would be quite insane, a foldable smartphone with double-sided displays. Yikes. If there were this many issues and delays in the first foldable smartphone launch, how would that go with dual, double-sided displays?

Epic Games hosted its gigantic Fortnite World Cup last month, where a 16-year-old took home $3 million while the tournament was embroiled in controversy over Epic letting known cheaters compete in the tournament.

Well, through all of that -- the $30 million prize pool attracted a lot of talent, as well as a lot of eyes. Epic already hit a milestone of a peak 2.3 million concurrent viewers during the Fortnite World Cup, an achievement that became the highest viewership for any esports event ever, outside of China.

Newzoo is reporting that Fortnite fans watched a huge 81.8 million hours of the Fortnite World Cup between Twitch and YouTube, with the numbers broken down into:

Microsoft currently has no plans to release an online-only mini Xbox, Microsoft's Phil Spencer confirms.

A while back we posited an interesting idea: what if Microsoft made a small, NVIDIA Shield-like set-top box specifically designed for online play? Fueled from the reports of the failed Project Hobart compute stick and Microsoft's digital-first business, we also predicted it'd be a digital-only Xbox. The latter manifested as the badly-named Xbox One S All-Digital Edition (Xbox One SAD Edition), but what about the former? A cheap dongle or micro-console would be huge for the new Project xCloud game streaming service...but Microsoft says it's not in the cards (yet?).

Xbox exec Phil Spencer says a streaming-only online-exclusive Xbox isn't in the works. The whole idea behind Project xCloud is an ancillary service that compliments existing hardware like PC and Xbox consoles--it's an extension, not a replacement, of that gaming experience. Project xCloud is meant to beam games from remote servers or even your Xbox One console at home to mobile phones, laptops, and tablets for on-the-go play. It's not about circumventing the current hardware landscape.

BioWare has a big morale problem and the studio is suffering. Anxiety, depression, miscommunication and ruthless crunch are endemic to the studio, causing massive problems in games like Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem. These issues have caused many key employees to leave over the years, and now the latest is a lead dev on Anthem.

Anthem might be dying a slow, painful death and hostile work culture might still infect BioWare. Actually we already knew Anthem was on the downward spiral (and I argued in favor of the game's death), but lead producer Ben Irving's departure from BioWare might seal the final nail in Anthem's coffin. Irving today announced he's leaving BioWare after 8 years, becoming another major studio veteran to withdraw in a string of departures.

"After 8 amazing years at BioWare I have made the decision to move on and have accepted an exciting opportunity at another gaming company. Since the first time I played Baldurs Gate many many years ago, BioWare was the dream place I always wanted to work," Irving said on Twitter.

Like all EA games, the new racing fantasy Need for Speed Heat will have microtransactions. There's no lootboxes this time around but gamers can buy time-savers to unlock collectibles faster.

The Miami-based Need For Speed Heat looks damn good, but there's something hiding under the hood: EA's penchant for monetization (they earned over $500 million from live services last quarter). Not only will the game be open-world with tons of stuff to unlock and find, but it has lots of customization options for building dream cars. Both of these are prime territory for microtransactions, both cosmetic or lootboxes. The only thing's missing is online play and integrated social connectivity, aka the glue of engagement. Expect those to be in too.

Now Ghost Games confirms Need For Speed Heat will indeed be monetized, but only with a one-time convenience pack that shows all collectibles on the map. There won't be any surprise mechanics or cosmetic purchases, and Speed Cards from Need For Speed Payback are gone. Macro-monetization will consist of buying car packs, the devs say.

A few YouTubers got their hands-on the SEGA Genesis mini and reveal some interesting tidbits about the micro-console. Is it worth buying? Maybe.

The SEGA Genesis Mini is due out next month for $80, and aims to scratch that nostalgia itch with some blast processing awesomeness. The micro-console comes packed with a huge 42-game library, two controllers, and a bunch of nifty features like save states, and full Japanese variants of specific games. But there's also some unwelcome surprises too.

According to YouTuber Game Sack, the Genesis Mini has some audio issues, namely with sound effects being delayed. It's apparently not a huge deal, but it's noticable in a lot of games. The music and sound effects are also lower quality than a base Genesis--it's hard to get that authentic rocking sound down--and the model can ship with broken controllers. That last part is just chance and there's no telling when you'll get a dud, but it's worth mentioning.

When it comes to movie adaptions of games, it certainly has been a rocky success rate. With many hardcore fans of the game characters it makes it difficult to recreate the amazement the players experienced when playing the game, on the big screen.

SEGA Europe's President, Gary Dale might agree as when he was recently speaking to gamesindustry.biz during E3 he touched on SEGA and Paramount's upcoming Sonic The Hedgehog movie. He said "Obviously we have a very deep knowledge of the character and the brand. [Paramount] has a very deep knowledge of how to make movies. The trick is just to bring those two skillsets together to make the best film we can."

When asked about the not-so-long-ago confirmation that Sonic would be getting a re-design after community backlash, he said "To be fair, Paramount has been open to listening to feedback from the community around Sonic, which of course has got such a tremendously loyal fanbase with people with very specific views of who Sonic is, how Sonic should behave, how Sonic should look."

Nintendo has a long history of being extremely protective of their IP being recorded and uploaded to YouTube, and just when you thought the company has chilled down, they have begun banning and removing again.

Recent reports have come out regarding popular YouTube Channels who used Nintendo copywritted music in their videos. Channels such as GilvaSunner and BrawlBRSTMs3 have said they have been issued with copy-write claims by Nintendo for the music they have uploaded to their channels. While Nintendo is completely within their rights to issue these copy-write strikes against channels, it does suck for people who enjoy the incredible music game tracks that Nintendo have created.

Keeping in mind that since game-tracks are hard to come by in CD form (unless you import it in) and Nintendo doesn't have their own platform for you to enjoy their music, most people result in using YouTube as a source. While this might rub Nintendo the wrong way as they don't want other people generating income off their IP (totally fair enough), it doesn't make the listeners life any easier, in fact it makes it harder. Hopefully Nintendo upload all of their game-tracks to a platform such as Spotify or Apple Music so their fans can enjoy the incredible musical pieces Nintendo has solidified in gaming culture.

Planetary scientists have estimated that at some time in the extremely distant past that a planetary embryo collided with Jupiter's core, disrupting its development process.

A new report has been published in the Nature's International Journal of Science, this report shines a new light on the past events of Jupiter's formation. According to the paper, scientists are now giving educated guesses towards a planetary embryo once having a head-on collision with an early stage of Jupiter's core. The paper says that since the Juno mission (a space probe sent out to observe Jupiter) has returned recent data, the once assumptions of Jupiter's core structure and gravitational fields have changed.

The new data sent back from Juno also indicated that Jupiter's core composition had a change throughout its development, scientists estimate that this was caused by the colliding planetary embryo. Scientists ran a simulation with this new found data, the simulation consisted of this embryo planet colliding with Jupiter's core and mixing its heavy elements into Jupiter's inner envelope, resulting in a diluted core. The simulation findings were representative of Jupiter's core. The same scientists expect that Jupiter isn't unique in this regard, as they say that Saturn could have experienced similar events.

Gamers are passionate, and it really doesn't matter what game you are looking at because you will always find a group of people really wanting support for their favorite game. Unfortunately, those development support cries aren't always fulfilled by the developers.

Halo Wars 2, the Halo RTS undoubtedly has one of those passionate communities and to prove that point fans started a petition that asked developers to add several updates to the game. The petition was signed by over 2300 Halo Wars 2 players and requested that developers 343 Industries brought the game over to Steam and added new features such as: replays, a UI design for PC, keyboard and mouse support for Xbox One players, new content such as skins/maps and random bug fixes.

In response to this petition, 343 Industries has flat out declined any further support for Halo Wars 2, despite the company sharing most of the same views as the players who signed the petition. Tyler Davis, the community support and engagement coordinator for 343 Industries said "It is always awesome to see the passion of fans wanting to see change come to the games they love in a positive manner. As awesome as all of these requests are, and as much as we personally share these same desires, the unfortunate reality is that we currently are unable to commit to any future Halo Wars 2 continued development or support at this time."

NASA will be allowing the private Dream Chase space plane to hitch a ride on their new Vulcan Centaur rocket to the International Space Station (ISS).

According to a new announcement out of the Sierra Nevada Corp, their space shuttle-like vessel that resembles much like a plane, is scheduled to launch with the new Vulcan Centaur rocket that's headed to the ISS. Dream Chaser will be transporting more than 12,000 lbs (5,400kg) of cargo to the space station over the course of six mission, the first of which will begin in late 2021.

ULA Chief Executive Tory Bruno told reporters that "I have been a fan and a supporter and a cheerleader of this amazing vehicle from the first moment I saw it. To be able to make Vulcan's commercial debut with this block of missions underneath the Dream Chaser is just truly exciting." The first test flight is scheduled to begin in 2021, and if the Vulcan Centaur rocket isn't ready to launch by then, Bruno has said that they can always fall back on the already prepared Atlas V. "We're on time with Vulcan, but if something should arise, we're going to make sure that you fly when you're ready."

The second DLC character to be released in Mortal Kombat 11 has made his entry, even though the character needs no introduction we have now been blessed by Nightwolf's ancestors.

Mortal Kombat 11 players who picked up the Kombat Pass will now be able to enjoy the likes of NetherRealm's newest returning character, Nightwolf. Nightwolf was last playable in a Mortal Kombat game back in 2011, and originally made his debut into the Mortal Kombat series back in 1995's Mortal Kombat 3.

From the trailer we can see that NetherRealm has kept most of what made Nightwolf awesome in the previous games. We can see that he still has his classic attacks with his hatchet, his trusty bow, the deadly shoulder charge and of course the spirit animal enhancements. There is also his projectile reflecting aura, machete, and ranged lighting attacks. For those that didn't pick up the Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pack, Nightwolf will be available to purchase separately sometime next week. Mortal Kombat 11 is currently available on PS4, PC, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

If you have been following the news, Techland, the developers of the Dying Light franchise are gearing up for their biggest game release yet, Dying Light 2.

Firstly, Dying LIght 2 is one of my most anticipated games for 2020, I'm excited for the new improvements in the movement system, the build your own story adventure, interactive NPC's/environments and everything else that we have been introduced to. While all of that sounds fantastic, Techland are planning on giving fans just a bit more features to sink their teeth into closer to the end of the month.

According to the above Twitter post on the official Dying Light Twitter page, Techland plan on revealing Dying Light 2's official "extended gameplay" demo on August 26th. The gameplay trailer will be live-streamed at 8PM CEST / 11AM PDT. If you are a Dying Light fan and are excited for the sequel I would highly recommend tuning into this livestream as I would expect that Techland will be diving into some much more in-depth detail than what they have previously. Dying Light 2 is expected to launch in the first half of 2020.

Services that have voice assistant software have been under fire as of late, as it was discovered that many of these services have manual, or human reviewing.

Microsoft is one of the companies that many users of Skype and Cortana have concerns with as it wasn't clearly indicated in their privacy policy that humans would be reviewing some conversations. Since these concerns arose, Microsoft has gone over their privacy policy and updated it, but still human workers will be listening in on some conversations and voice commands to improve the service quality.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Motherboard that "We realized, based on questions raised recently, that we could do a better job specifying that humans sometimes review this content." Microsoft's new privacy policy states "Our processing of personal data for these purposes includes both automated and manual (human) methods of processing."

Codemasters has just pushed out a new update to F1 2019 that improves the visuals to the cars in the game, live on both the PS4 and PC with the Xbox One update coming soon.

The update will spruce up the visuals not just cosmetically on the outside, but the covers, wing endplates, engine covers, and more. It is a nice visual overhaul in a patch for F1 2019, which will also see the '90 Years' logo on the Ferrari vehicles in the game.

I'm old enough to have been caught up in the huge hype train that was The Blair Witch Project, the original found footage movie from 1999 that went mega viral before going mega viral was even a thing. Now there's a new game coming to the PC and Xbox One, with a 4K trailer below:

The new game is simply called Blair Witch, with the new Tour Through the Woods trailer showing off the creepy woods and environment that I'm sure a few new pairs of underwear will be needed. There's not much known on the story, but the gameplay will be interesting since it's a psychological horror game that "studies your reactions to fear and stress".

Oh great, so the more scared and stressed out I get playing the Blair Witch, the game will only adapt and make more more scared and more stressed. Awesome. I swear, if I wake up to a bunch of sticks outside of my room in the morning, I'm walking out, setting my house on fire, and going off the grid.

DOOM Eternal is getting a little closer to release and just before Gamescom 2019, id Software and Bethesda have released a new multiplayer trailer detailing what to expect, and a bunch of BATTLEMODE goodness. Check it out:

The new BATTLEMODE in DOOM Eternal looks like a blast, seeing a 2-v-1 game of cat and mouse between a DOOM Slayer and demons. There will be 5 playable demons, and 6 different arenas to take battle on. Better yet, any future maps and demons will be free to DOOM Eternal players.

id Software details BATTLEMODE as: "Play as either a fully loaded DOOM Slayer, or on a team of two player-controlled demons. The Slayer and the demons' objective may be the same - destroy the other side - but their playstyles are entirely different".

Need for Speed Heat is now official, with EA and Ghost Games dropping a new trailer for the open-world arcade racer. It's shaping up really well, with the trailer for Heat below:

In the game you'll be customizing and racing through the fictional streets of Palm City, which looks like a Miami-esque city with money-focused daytime races blended with the underground scene at night that is all on your reputation.

The cops in Need for Speed: Heat will be after you during the day, but once the sun sets there is a "rogue police task force" that is hunting you down. Need for Speed: Heat is sound like old school Need for Speed games, with a huge injection of new school Need for Speed, with a blend of Fast and the Furious (new, and old movies).