Gaming's biggest publishers will disclose lootbox odds by 2020, the Entertainment Software Association confirms.

Photo: AlexCraita

The war on lootboxes is heating up. Government bodies across the world are scrutinizing the billion-dollar microtransaction market, and some U.S. politicians are calling for a ban. Rather than be regulated by Washington, the industry is starting to regulate itself. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony will soon require all publishers and developers to disclose lootbox odds for games sold on Xbox LIVE, PlayStation Network, and the eShop.

Six years on from launch, GTA Online continues raking in consistent revenues for Take-Two Interactive, and NBA 2K19 is now the publisher's best-selling sports game.

Take-Two Interactive just reported a strong start to its Fiscal Year 2020 timeline, kicking off Q1'2020 with growth in monetization, net revenues, and sales. GTA Online was a big driver for Q1 thanks to its new Diamond Casino update, which saw record player engagement to date, and the huge continued success of NBA 2K19. Digital was the leading force in Take-Two's Q1 performance, growing a massive 51% YoY to $428 million. Digital made up almost 80% of the company's total net revenues.

In the period from April 1 - June 30, 2019, Take-Two made $541 million in net revenues, up 40% year-over-year. Net bookings, or net sales, sits at $422 million, up a huge 46.5% YoY. Operating income is up an astronomical 809% from last year primarily due to Red Dead Redemption 2's heavy investment spend in 2019.

A new Call of Duty game will still release every year, Activision asserts.

Every year gamers can expect the same things: new FIFA, NBA 2K, Madden, and Call of Duty games to name a few. That won't change any time soon. Despite the high cost of rolling out huge sprawling FPS games every year, Activision shows no signs of slowing Call of Duty's annual release cadence. In fact, they're doubling-down on key franchises like Call of Duty, accelerating development tools, worker headcount, and robust live service roadmaps. Activision knows CoD is a cash crop and is planting lots of seeds.

In its recent Fiscal Year Q2'2019 earnings call, Activision strongly hinted that Call of Duty won't slow down after the new Modern Warfare reboot. We shouldn't see Call of Duty take a year off or skip 2020 (Black Ops 5 is set for 2020, reports say).

Phison has been kicking storage ass this year with its break-out PS5016-E16 SSD controller -- which has been capable of up to 5GB/sec and can arrive with up to 2TB of NAND flash.

Well, at the Flash Memory Summit this week Phison decided to tease its new PS5018-E18 mainstream controller that will have a bunch of tweaks under the hood. Comparing it to the E16 SSD controller, the new E18 SSD controller will really ramp things up with up to 7GB/sec transfer speeds.

The current, and still very much kick ass PS5016-E16 SSD can push up to 5GB/sec -- but was made on the 28nm node and NVMe 1.3 standard. Phison's new PS5018-E18 SSD controller is made on the new 12nm FFC node, bumps up its CPU cores to 3 x Cortex-R5 (compared to 2 x Cortex-R5s on the E16 SSD controller) and arrives on the newer NVMe 1.4 standard.

It seems like today is the day for custom Navi reveals, with the new HIS Radeon RX 5700 XT IceQ X2 teased and now something from GIGABYTE.

Here we have the GIGABYTE Radeon RX 5700 XT GAMING OC, with its triple-fan cooler and 2.5-slot design. It's nothing fancy and I would dare say that the OC this card is going to be mild, so that there's some distance between the GIGABYTE and AORUS (enthusiast/OC) models.

We still have a (plain) backplate, which will take some heat from the rear of the card.

Cross-play is one of Activision's latest power plays for Call of Duty, and the publisher has no plans on stopping.

Every future Call of Duty game following the new Modern Warfare reboot should support cross-play--at least that's the impression I got from Activision's latest Q2'19 earnings call. The company's goal with cross-play is simple: to keep gamers playing as long as possible by breaking down platform barriers. It's great for engagement, it's great for playercount, and it's great for monetization. Activision essentially wants to create a unified cross-platform community where progress, saves, and interactivity aren't locked to a single system.

The idea is to make a new Call of Duty platform where players can track and boost their stats regardless of what platform they start or finish on. Fire up PS4 and play a few matches with PS friends and then switch to PC for enthusiast gaming. Eventually playing on different systems won't fracture or split up overall progression, and everything you do will count towards your overall stats. Activision is putting significant resources into making this new network and plans to use it as a base for Call of Duty's community and future content pipeline.

As we ramp up into the release of the newly-revamped Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, rumors of Call of Duty for 2020 are beginning to start.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 5 will reportedly be the COD game released in 2020, with developer Treyarch taking the reigns. Black Ops 5 will reportedly take place during the Cold War, will feature a campaign that will take place over the entire 40 years of the Cold War, which will include the Vietnam and Korean wars.

I like the sound of an "even more gritty and gruesome" Call of Duty experience than Modern Warfare, but I feel like we've been submerged in this era for too long. Unless something completely different is done, I can't see it pushing the franchise in a new direction.

NASA has released a brand new image from The Hubble Space Telescope showcasing what is now the best image we now have of the giant planet Jupiter.

From the image we can see Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot and the extremely chaotic atmostphere of the planet. The colors we can see on the planet showcase the different parts of Jupiter's atmosphere in action. From the distance we are at, we can see large bands covering the planets surface, these are ammonia ice cloud and the reason for them to be separated/different eachother is a result of various atmospheric pressures. Lighter bands have risen higher from the surface while the thicker bands represent more dense clouds.

The Great Red Spot we can see in the middle-right of the image is Jupiter's main attraction. Don't be fooled by the spots size, it may look small in the image but its diameter is actually larger than Earth's. The spot is actually a high-pressure wind system called an anticyclone and since the 1800's scientists have been watching it slowly downsize for an unknown reason. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is the largest anticyclonic storm in the entire solar system.

If you are a Nintendo Switch owner and looking to get a Switch Pro Controller, and you are a Spyro fan, then you are in luck as a Spyro themed Pro Controller has just hit the market.

PowerA has just announced the wireless Spyro-themed Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, and it's an officially licensed Nintendo product. The controller has the ability of mapping the two triggers on the back of the controller, while also featuring Bluetooth connectivity but no NFC compatibility.

This controller will require two AA batteries and is expected to give users up to 30 hours of gaming pleasure. This controller announcement directly corresponds to the release of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy on the Nintendo Switch planned for the 3rd of September. If you are interested in this controller and want to make your Spyro expereince just that much better on your Nintendo Switch then head on over to Amazon here.

NASA has announced that India's destruction of a satellite could possibly threaten the safety of the International Space Station (ISS) due to the satellites debris.

India has successfully tested their anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) on one of their own satellites. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the weapons test called Mission Shakti, and said India now has "space power". NASA's administrator, Jim Bridenstine has spoken out about the destruction of the satellite and has called it a "terrible, terrible thing", and that the risk of debris colliding with the ISS has risen 44% over 10 days.

NASA has identified 400 pieces of orbital debris and is tracking 60 pieces of debris that are larger than 10cm in diameter. Twenty-four of those pieces have been deemed a potential threat to the ISS. However, Bridenstine did say that "The international space station is still safe. If we need to manoeuvre it we will." He added that this "kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight that we need to see have happen."

A brand new next-generation spacesuit prototype has been created and could be what astronauts wear when they are traveling back to the Moon or better yet, to Mars.

ILC Dover and Collins Aerospace have worked together to develop the next-generation spacesuit that could take astronauts far and wide in our solar system. The new suit is called 'Astro' and features upgrades across the board when compared to the spacesuit that astronauts used to land on the Moon. According to the announcement, 'Astro' was designed and built with future crewed space missions in mind, these include the planned lunar landing by 2024 and even the future Mars landing.

The new 'Astro' suit boasts a number of improvements for the user, including mobility, improved carbon dioxide-removal tech that allows for longer missions, improved motors, electronics, torso size/design and much more. The suit also comes with a "life-support backpack" that will regulate pressure while also providing oxygen and cooling for the user. 'Astro' can be used for both spacewalks and surface walks by simply switching its mobility configuration.

So you are a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player who is aspiring to go pro, you now do this with this scholarship from US Universities.

This is the very first time a scholarship has been made for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and it is being offered by the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The scholarship is for the 2019-2020 academic year, and has been brought to fruition by a generous $50,000 donation by Brain Calle, who is the CEO of Irvine Weekly and LA Weekly publisher Street Media.

UCI's own UCI Esports and TAG Smash Ultimate Club will be giving this opportunity to six lucky Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players. The scholarship consists of a $6,000 injection that will require participants to practice between 10 and 15 hours a week, while keeping up a minum GPA of 2.0 and involved tournament competition.

NASA's Curiosity rover is back at it again with another Mars discovery that could prove the existence of water on the Red Planet. This discovery is none other than a extremely good-looking rock.

While rocks are basically everywhere on Earth and us humans don't really pay much attention to them, NASA scientists are the complete opposite for rock discoveries on Mars. NASA's Curiosity rover is currently located in the Gale Crater and has recently discovered a new rock that could shed some light on whether or not the Red Planet harbored or still harbors water.

The rock has been nicknamed "Strathdon" and its features are scale-like which could suggest that Mars once had flowing water that eroded this rock at different periods of time. Each of the levels of scales have been estimated to be periods of time when Mars once went from wet to dry - forming a rocky layer that we can see above. Valerie Fox of Caltech has said "We're seeing an evolution in the ancient lake environment recorded in these rocks. It wasn't just a static lake. It's helping us move from a simplistic view of Mars going from wet to dry. Instead of a linear process, the history of water was more complicated."

NASA is currently in the midst of building their new rocket that will be taking some extremely lucky astronauts to the moon by 2024. That rocket is now having its final parts installed and the completion schedule is still on track by the end of the year.

A new announcement has come out of NASA, and this time NASA Administrator, Jim Bridenstine has invited US press to the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to view the rocket that will be powering NASA's upcoming Artemis 1 lunar mission. According to the announcement, engineers are currently equipping the Orion rocket with its final section to the core stage of the rocket.

This final section has been described by NASA as the most complex part of the building procedure and is actually the most complex core NASA has ever built. Regardless of its complexities, NASA says that they are still very much on schedule for it to be completed by the end of the year. The core's constitution is two liquid propellant tanks and four RS-25 engines, with this combination the rocket will produce more than two million pounds of thrust. NASA plan on landing the first women and the next man on the Moon by 2024.

If you are a Nintendo Switch user, you will need to be paying attention to this one. Firstly, have you ever wanted to move your dock and Switch to a friends place but realized that the dock is just too big and flimsy? Human Things now has a solution.

Human Things are back at it again with a new Nintendo Switch accessory that changes the game for Nintendo Switch users. I'm a Switch user, and I'm constantly bringing my Switch around to my friends places to slap down anyone who is game enough to get into a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game with me. My main issue with this process is the unplugging the dock/cable from my setup at home and packing it all away - Human Things have now solved that issue with the 'Covert Dock.'

The below image showcases the 'Covert Dock' which features a USB-C PD charging port, USB 3.1 accessory port, HDMI display output and foldable prongs. Human Things have changed the Nintendo Switch game of portability, as owners of the Covert Dock can simply carry one of these with a USB-C power cable/HDMI cord and setup and play the Switch much faster and easier than the traditional dock.

We all gawk at the glitz and glamor that is Hollywood. It has been said that Hollywood film and shows of the sci-fi genre tend to show future items which one day may come to pass. This one just came along much quicker than most.

The haptic suit which most likely will come to the front of your mind via the recent box office nostalgia/retro-futuristic hit Ready Player One. Haptics is nothing new but the idea of a full-body suit which can alter your immersion level into a VR environment has been the tale of many sci-fi onlookers. VR immersion is nice but imagine being able to feel every hit, impact, or explosion in your game in accordance with its positioning.

You may not have to imagine for long as a London-based company 'Teslasuit' is building such a haptic suit. It can increase the immersive nature of interactive experiences by adding the sensory perception of touch to the mix. While most of us gamers and PC enthusiasts immediately jump into the scenario I laid out, Teslasuit intends this to meet several roles, including fitness training or kinesthetic learning. The latter being a way to learn errors in things such as golf swings so it can help you train to improve your performance.

If you thought by now we'd have flying cars, Moon bases and nanotechnology making us like Superman or something -- you know you're wrong. Your consolation prize? A robotic tail called the Arque.

Scientists from the Keio University Graduate School of Media Design have designed a robotic tail that makes us more of an animal-machine-human hybrid, and it could actually have a purpose in this world. The robotic tail was inspired by the grippy, curly end of a seahorse -- something instantly apparent.

The robotic tail uses spring-loaded joints that are connected to a vertebrae, packing pneumatic artificial muscles that run through the inside of it and allow for easy movement. An air compressor is used to actuate the muscles, which lets the robotic tail move in 8 different directions.

Important Battery Message

Unable to verify this iPhone has a genuine Apple battery. Health information not available for this battery.

This is what yo u'll see now thanks to an update that Apple has for iOS, which will stop people using aftermarket batteries inside of their iPhones. iFixit says that Apple has activated a "dormant software lock" in iOS that will stop features like Battery Health in Settings to work, but it will work if you have a genuine Apple battery.

Twitch isn't a stranger to making it easy to broadcast on their service, after all it's all they do -- and while you can use their own website and third-party software the company wants you to stay in their backyard... introducing Twitch Studio.

Twitch Studio is a full desktop broadcasting app is currently in closed beta but the company lets you apply to join right here, and is designed from the ground up to be Twitch's "all-in-one streaming app designed with new streamers in mind".

If you're an established streamer or someone who knows how to setup, tweak, and maintain third-party software like OBS, etc -- then you won't need Twitch Studio. But, if you're someone who is dipping their toes in the streaming world then Twitch just made it a helluva lot easier.

Just a few days ago Remedy Entertainment made some big changes to the PC system requirements for its upcoming game Control, in a strange move just before its launch.

Gamers including myself questioned the move, and now Remedy has addressed the situation with PR manage Thomas Puha saying that the PC version of Control is not downgraded. Puha simply stated: "No, it's not downgraded".

We'll have to wait and see what the final game looks like, but let's hope it isn't a gigantic mess on the PC like Remedy's previous game Quantum Break. Control drops on August 27 which isn't far away, and rocks the latest version of Remedy's in-house Northlight Engine which will also pack real-time ray tracing effects.