Latest News - Page 1814

Creative Assembly just announced the next Total War Saga game and this time round players will be heading to mythological realm of TROY.

Above we have the Campaign Map reveal which introduces us to basic layout of what players can expect when entering the games campaign. The narrator explains the premise for the campaign and describes the events that eventually lead into a siege that once stopped the world.

Paris and his older brother Hector, who are both princes of Troy travelled to Sparta to make peace with the country. While there, Paris fell in love with King Menelaus' wife, and since Menelaus treated her so badly she ran away with Paris back to Troy.

Netflix has blessed its hungry viewers with the brand new full trailer for El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. The upcoming TV show starts moments after the events of Breaking Bad.

Firstly, if you haven't seen Breaking Bad and you are thinking about watching this TV show you have already made a mistake. Binge watch Breaking Bad and I promise you that you won't regret it. Anyway, El Camino begins right after the events of the final episode of Breaking Bad and follows the story of the distressed and slowly recovering Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul).

From the above trailer, we can see that Jesse is on the run from the police and seeks refuge at his old drug deals house Skinny Pete. He is dirty, tired, emotionally torn in two, panicked and his friends seem extremely concerned for him. The trailer actually doesn't show off anymore than that, as a good trailer should do. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie will release on Netflix on October 11th. In other news about the upcoming movie, it has been reported that the film will feature 10 cameo characters from Breaking Bad, more on that here.

NASA has issued out a new visualization that illustrates to viewers how a black hole warps its surroundings. The image is located below.

Above we have the image released by NASA, and they explain that we can see where the black holes extreme gravitational pull has managed to pull in large amounts of matter that form into a thin structure called an accretion disk. It is also detailed that due to the black holes gravitational pull that light cannot even escape its draw, skewing the rays from all different directions and resulting in the strange shape we observe.

Closest to the center of the black hole is gas which form knots that and dissipate and re-form as the accretion disks magnetic fields change. At the bottom center of the black hole we can see what is called a "photon-ring" which is composed of multiple rings of light that have been bent. These rings will grow progressively fainter as time goes on due to the light circling the black hole many times and eventually not being able to reach our eyes. Here is the first-ever image of real-life black hole.

Two new studies have been published by UT Southwestern and have shown evidence towards an artificial intelligence (AI) being able to determine whether antidepressants work on select patients.

With depression being a rampant disease in this day and age, scientists are working around the clock to counteract its widespread effects. The team out of UT Southwestern have used an AI to identify patterns of brain activity that allow them to determine whether or not an individual patient is responsive to certain antidepressants. This evidence suggests that if scientists can accurately scan patients brain activity they could be able to pinpoint whether or not the medication that has been prescribed to them is effective or not.

The complications that the team underwent is the fact that depression is extremely hard to pinpoint, as it can exist in various states of the brain. This makes it hard to get an accurate representation of how it manifests per patient and requires researchers to scan the brain in different states, eg emotion induced/resting. Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, founding Director of UT Southwestern's Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care said "Depression is a complex disease that affects people in different ways. Much like technology can identify us through fingerprints and facial scans, these studies show we can use imaging to identify specific signatures of depression in people."

The Soyuz 61 crew recently took off from Earths surface yesterday, and upon arrival at the International Space Station (ISS) a crew member of the ISS snapped this awesome picture.

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and United Arab Emirates spaceflight participant Hazza AlMansoori launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on September 25th. It wasn't long before they were to join the ISS crew of six that has been living and conducting experiments aboard the flying lab/observatory. Jessica Meir was on route to join her best-friend and classmate Christina Koch and upon Meirs arrival Koch snapped this incredible picture.

"What it looks like from @Space_Station when your best friend achieves her lifelong dream to go to space". She continued and explained what the image is of "Caught the second stage in progress! We can't wait to welcome you onboard, crew of Soyuz 61!" Meir and Skripochka will stay on board the ISS until February next year, while AlMansoori will return back to Earth in just week since he is just a spaceflight participant.

Amazon has revealed yesterday during their annual hardware event that a line of updates will soon be hitting Alexa's worldwide.

These updates bring new features to the virtual assistant which ultimately allows users to adopt the iconic voice of Samuel L. Jackson. Users can purchase two versions of Jackson's voice, one explicit and the other non-explicit, both will just be $0.99.

You are probably wondering how Amazon got hold of every voice line possible by Jackson. Well its not like he stood there and said everything possible into a recording Alexa, instead Amazon used neural text-to-speed technology to replicate his voice. Since the replication is being sold you can assume that it would be pretty damn close to the original, which makes me think that Jackson is just the first celebrity voice to hit the Alexa market.

Microsoft has just released two new Xbox bundles with new Xbox One S and Xbox One X bundles including a copy of Forza Horizon 4, as well as the new DLC for its Lego Speed Championship.

The new Xbox One S bundle will cost $300 while the Xbox One X bundle costs $500 -- both of them will include 1 month of Xbox Live Gold and the Xbox Game Pass, as well as an additional Xbox One controller.

Microsoft's new Xbox One X 1TB Console - Forza Horizon 4 LEGO Speed Champions Bundle (1TB) includes the full-game download of Forza Horizon 4 with the new LEGO Speed Champions add-on, not the physical copy of Forza Horizon 4.

Sony opens up a new online storefront to sell console hardware, accessories, and games, putting even more pressure on retailers like GameStop.

Sony just opened up a new store that lets you buy PlayStation games, hardware, and peripherals directly from them. Sony is offering slight MSRP savings on console bundles, but you won't save on any games. There's a PS4 + PS Plus bundle for $339, and a PS4 Pro + PS Plus bundle for $429 (All in all these are meager discounts). Sony's store offers two shipping methods; a 2-business day free option, or 1-day express shipping for $10. PlayStation Plus subscribers get free express shipping on every order.

Overall this isn't exciting news, but it has some serious far-reaching effects. Sony is using the store to gear up for its next-gen PlayStation 5 in 2020, and we'll see exclusive promotions, offers, and discounts on the store.

Respawn today announced Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, its new VR shooter originally teased way back in 2017.

Titanfall VR isn't happening after all. Respawn's AAA VR shooter is a Medal of Honor adaptation centered in World War II, and promises to deliver authenticity and immersion via the Oculus platform. Above and Beyond takes players to various battles and theaters of war across Europe, and even tosses in some unique physics systems to enable realistic carnage.

Players can catch grenades mid-air and throw them back at enemies, toss knives, interact with the environment like climbing chains, ladders, walls, and even pulling a grenade pin with your teeth, operate tanks, and of course shoot a wide array of guns straight out of the brutal world conflict. You can even swim. The spatial head and body tracking will allow more freedom in VR, and Respawn wants to capture all the possibilities that Oculus VR has to offer.

Oculus' new Oculus Link tech merges lets Quest owners play Rift games through a single USB-C cable.

Today Oculus announced Oculus Link, a new feature that effectively transforms the $399 all-in-one Oculus Quest headset into a PC-powered Rift headset. Using Oculus Link software and a single USB Type-C cable, Quest owners can connect directly to a gaming PC and play dedicated Rift games on the headset.

Oculus Link effectively makes the Quest into a mobile-tethered hybrid that can switch at will (and also effectively phases out the Rift).

Nintendo puts a $5 a month subscription in its new free-to-play, lootbox-ridden Mario Kart Tour mobile game. Yes, really.

Nintendo's tried a lot of strategies with its mobile games. First it tried free-to-start with Super Mario Run, which let you play a portion of the game for free and pay to unlock the rest. This failed. Then they did traditional free-to-play with aggressive gacha-style microtransactions with games like Fire Emblem Heroes. This caught like wildfire.

Now Nintendo is trying to sell in-game subscriptions within its free-to-play mobile games, paygating content behind a recurring subscription.

BioWare just moved to a more spacious three-story, 75,000 square foot office in Edmonton, and it could help heal the studio's significant internal turmoil.

BioWare's in a rut. In fact, it's been in this rut since it shipped Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014, a game which fundamentally changed how the studio operates. BioWare never got out of the harsh, grueling crunch that Inquisition demanded, slowly eroding team confidence and morale with years of mismanagement while tanking big-budget games like Mass Effect: Andromeda, and its new failed IP Anthem. Work on Anthem got so bad that developers indicated depression and anxiety were now endemic to BioWare; rather than a bastion of RPGs, it was now a black hole that pushed some people so hard they had to take medical leave to recuperate from stress overload.

Now with new leadership under Casey Hudson and a new change of scenery, BioWare may have a shot at recovery. The company just moved into a huge new three-story office in the EPCOR Tower in downtown Edmonton that's designed specifically for games development.

Sony's goofy PlayStation 1 classic MediEvil is getting resurrected with a brand new remaster, and now all PS4 gamers can try it out.

Game demos are pretty rare these days, so when they come out it's actually a treat. Sony just released a new MediEvil demo so both new and veteran PS gamers can sample its schlocky Halloween charm while experiencing that old-school PlayStation goodness. It's almost like those early days when demo discs came in packaged video game magazines (both of which are practically extinct now).

The MediEvil demo is kinda beefy, clocking in at 11GB and featuring the first two levels of the game--Dan's Crypt and The Graveyard. It's aptly called short-lived and will only be available until October 6, so be sure to grab it asap. Everyone who plays the demo can unlock a special helm that carries over to the final game.

Like Red Dead Redemption II, The Last of Us Part II will span two discs on PlayStation 4.

The Last of Us Part II is shaping up to be Naughty Dog's magnum opus, at least insofar as overall size and dramatic story impact. Neil Druckmann says the sequel is the studio's "most ambitious and longest game in our 35 year history," and affirms the team needed to make a huge game to chronicle Ellie's harrowing journey of hate and revenge.

"To tell this kind of story the game needed to be massive," Druckmann said in a recent PlayStation Blog post.

Warner Bros. has gotten out ahead of the controversy that is surrounding their upcoming Joker film that is scheduled to release on October 4.

The controversy comes from an open letter written by several victims of the 2012 Aurora shooting that happened during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises. The letter says that there is major concern towards how the character in the film (Joker) is depicted and that the way that he is portrayed could inspire violence in others. According to Deadline this is what was sent to Warner, "We're calling on [Warner Bros. CEO and chairperson Ann Sarnoff] to use your massive platform and influence to join us in our fight to build safer communities with fewer guns".

The letter also went on to express massive concerns for gun violence and also called on Warner to leverage their power in Congress to push gun reform. Warner Bros. has since issued a statement, condemning gun violence but also standing by their upcoming Joker film. "Gun violence in our society is a critical issue, and we extend our deepest sympathy to all victims and families impacted by these tragedies. Our company has a long history of donating to victims of violence, including Aurora, and in recent weeks, our parent company joined other business leaders to call on policymakers to enact bi-partisan legislation to address this epidemic."

We are quickly descending into the insane reality of deepfake technology, where it will be virtually impossible to know the difference between a real or fake video of someone -- and Google wants to help.

This deepfake of Bill Hader impersonating Tom Cruise would have to be my favorite go-to deepfake, with every single person I've showed it to (even those aware of what deepfake is) absolutely blown away by it.

The search giant has released a bunch of deepfake videos that will help researchers make deepfake detection tools, because we're at a stage when the fear factor hits 11/10 and people are scared of them being used in the upcoming 23020 presidential elections.

Facebook has come out at the Atlantic Festival in Washington DC to speak about how they are going to be preventing outside interference in elections and the companies attitude towards political speech on their platform.

According to Nick Clegg, VP of Gloabl Affairs and Communications at Facebook, the company relies on 'third-party fact-checkers' to help reduce the spread of fake news and misinformation. However, Facebook recognizes politicians differently than normal users, saying that "We don't believe, however, that it's an appropriate role for us to referee political debates and prevent a politician's speech from reaching its audience and being subject to public debate and scrutiny. That's why Facebook exempts politicians from our third-party fact-checking program".

Clegg says during his speech that "I want to be really clear today - we do not submit speech by politicians to our independent fact-checkers, and we generally allow it on the platform even when it would otherwise breach our normal content rules." He continues and says there is exemptions to this rule and that's when the speech endangers people and where they take money. Full statement "Of course, there are exceptions. Broadly speaking they are two-fold: where speech endangers people; and where we take money, which is why we have more stringent rules on advertising than we do for ordinary speech and rhetoric."

Boston Dynamics have finished up some designs of their robot dog 'Spot' and have decided to put him to work. Companies can now join their leasing program to acquire their very own Spot robot.

You have perhaps seen Boston Dynamics' robot dog before, and since its original reveal calibrations have been made that allow for Spot to avoid obstacles much better and keep balance under not-so-good circumstances. Why would companies want their very own Spot? Spot can carry up to four hardware modules on his back, which gives companies room to equip Spot with whatever it needs to complete its task. An example of a task is Spot being trained to check gas leaks with a methane detector.

Other use cases could be a company wanting to track connectivity over a long distance, Spot can be equipped with a radio transmitter and set on a specific course. Spot is also capable of also working in the rain. There are many different use cases for Spot, but one of them is something that Michael Perry, VP of business development at Boston Dynamics doesn't want to see, and thats Spot being converted into some sort of weapon. Here is what he had say, "Fundamentally, we don't want to see Spot doing anything that harms people, even in a simulated way".

It looks like the rumors of the GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER are beginning to take fuller form, with ASUS HQ sources of VideoCardz saying that the GTX 1660 SUPER is coming very soon.

ASUS is preparing at least 3 different models of the GTX 1660 SUPER in its DUAL EVO, Phoenix, and TUF3 series of cards. We should expect the same TU116-400 GPU that powers the GTX 1660 Ti, but it will ahve its GDDR6 clocked higher.

We're expecting the same 6GB of GDDR6 on the upcoming GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER but it'll have its bandwidth boosted up to 14Gbps, up from the 12Gbps gear on the regular GTX 1660 Ti.

Advertising is an ever changing industry, especially considering not only how fast technology is moving but also how fast people's attention spans are changing.

For the reasons listed above, Snapchat has opted in a new advertising service for companies looking to advertise on their platform. Originally, Snapchat allowed marketers to have a 10 second video for their commercials, but according to a new announcement during the Advertising Week in New York City, "We're now expanding the maximum duration of Snap ads."

This extension is going to come in the form of a new update that allows advertisers to show longer videos. At first, advertisers had the ability to show longer videos, but those videos were only shown if the viewer swiped up on the ad. A great example of this is a short trailer for a movie containing the full trailer behind the 'swipe required ad.' Snapchat will now be removing the 10 second cap on ads, and allowing for advertisers to display a full 3 minute long ad instead.