L.A. Noire sequel leaked, likely coming to PS5, Xbox Series X

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 18, 2020 10:23 AM CDT

A Warner Music account accidentally uploaded the OST for L.A. Noire Part Two, hinting a sequel is in development at Rockstar Games.

L.A. Noire sequel leaked, likely coming to PS5, Xbox Series X

Internet detectives might've solved the case of Rockstar's next game. The studio could be working on a sequel to 2011's ultra-stylish crime story for next-gen consoles, complete with immaculate animations and a storyline that'd impress hardcases like Humphrey Bogart.

According to screenshots, Warner Chappell Music, the global publishing company of the Warner Media Group, uploaded a song from L.A. Noire Part Two. The song in question is Break My Stride from Matthew Wilder, and is probably for the big reveal trailer that's set to accompany either Sony's or Microsoft's big livestream E3-timed events. The account and the music was deleted shortly after.

Continue reading: L.A. Noire sequel leaked, likely coming to PS5, Xbox Series X (full post)

Watch the PlayStation 5 reveal stream right here

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 18, 2020 9:34 AM CDT

Sony is finally revealing key PS5 specs and details today at 12pm EST in a livestream with Mark Cerny, complete with architectural info and much more.

Watch the PlayStation 5 reveal stream right here

The PS5's enigmatic mystery will be lifted today. The livestream with Cerny should uncover tons of tidbits about the system's software and hardware stack and we'll probably get perf numbers: 8K, 4K 60FPS, 1080p 120FPS, ray tracing, etc. And Cerny should explain how this kind of performance is possible on the system. And storage...hopefully we get info on storage too.

The stream should be roughly 52 minutes long so we could see some game reveals, a big reveal of the system's final consumer design, memory cards (yes, those are back now), and more. Kotaku's Jason Schreier, who has knowledge with the goings-on in the games industry, says spec-hunters will be disappointed. The PS5 may not hit the same TFLOP power as the Xbox Series X.

Continue reading: Watch the PlayStation 5 reveal stream right here (full post)

Trump to temporarily close US border with Canada due to coronavirus

Anthony Garreffa | BREAKING STORY | Mar 18, 2020 9:14 AM CDT

President Donald Trump has just announced that the United States will closing its border with Canada, where all "non-essential traffic" will be blocked over coronavirus.

Trump to temporarily close US border with Canada due to coronavirus

The moves by President Trump closing the US-Canada border come barely 24 hours after the European Union agreed to close its external borders to non-citizens. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently made similar moves in Canada, where he considered closing Canada's border to non-citizens, while US citizens were exempt from that ban.

President Trump tweeted: "We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected. Details to follow!" The story is breaking, and I will update it when more information is made available.

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Former Facebook Creative Director Mike Booth joins Resolution Games

Jak Connor | Gaming | Mar 18, 2020 8:00 AM CDT

Former Facebook Creative Director, and veteran game creator, Mike Booth, will be moving over to Resolution Games as a member of its board of directors.

Former Facebook Creative Director Mike Booth joins Resolution Games

Booth has been in game development for quite some time now, starting his career back in college with a game called Nox and then moving onto to work on two legendary titles - Counter-Strike and Left 4 Dead under Turtle Rock Studios before being acquired by Valve. Booth also worked on a range of big titles such as Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Team Fortress 2, Command & Conquer: Generals, and Command & Conquer: Red Alert. Booth also spent some over at Facebook as the leader of the company's virtual reality ventures.

Resolution Games is known for creating titles such as Bait!, Acron: Attack of the Squirrels! and Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs. Booth touched on the transition to Resolution Games and said that "What drew me to Resolution Games is the team's passion and dedication to creating innovative and immersive game play in what's proving to be an incredibly powerful, yet still somewhat challenging technology".

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Scientists dose first patient with coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine

The search for a coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine is probably the most-wanted thing on this planet right now, outside of toilet paper that is -- and don't worry, scientists are on top of it.

Scientists dose first patient with coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have said that their clinical trial of investigational vaccine for COVID-19 begins, with a new study kicking off in Seattle with local, healthy adult volunteers putting their arms up for a jab. A new Phase 1 "clinical trial evaluating an investigational vaccine designed to protect against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has begun at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) in Seattle", according to a new post on the NIH website.

The new COVID-19 vaccine trial will see 45 "healthy adult volunteers" that are aged between 18-55 years old, across the next 6 weeks, where the first "participant received the investigational vaccine today". The 6-week study will be evaluating "different doses of the experimental vaccine for safety and its ability to induce an immune response in participants".

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Taiwan rejects Huawei on 5G rollout: Chunghwa Telecom chooses Nokia

Nokia has been chosen to deploy a 5G radio network for Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan, where it will deploy 5G technology in the Central and Southern Region of Taiwan.

Taiwan rejects Huawei on 5G rollout: Chunghwa Telecom chooses Nokia

Chunghwa Telecom has its eyes on becoming the 5G leader in Taiwan, and will be using Nokia's range of 5G radio technology to make it happen. Chunghwa Telecom will be the first in Taiwan with 5G connectivity, with the continued relationship between the companies extending back to 1973 -- right up to the next generation of 5G technology.

The rollout of 5G technology is already happening in Taiwan, and will be live for users to use in July -- aiming at high-end 4K video streaming and VR technology. Nokia will tap the huge array of Chunghwa Telecom's existing LTE install base with huge spectrum resources at its disposal, to launch a 5G non-standalone (NSA) using multiple bands -- where in the future it will expand on that with 5G standalone (SA).

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Apple could acquire Disney because of coronavirus COVID-19

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Mar 18, 2020 5:25 AM CDT

We all know that coronavirus COVID-19 is wrecking havok on the world in multiple ways, but now we have an analyst who thinks it is the perfect time for Apple to acquire Disney. Yeah... Disney, and yeah... Apple.

Apple could acquire Disney because of coronavirus COVID-19

Rosenblatt Securities Director Bernie McTernan has thought about what would happen if Apple were to acquire Disney, during a recent chat with Yahoo Finance. He had some interesting facts that he bought up, and with coronavirus COVID-19 bringing markets down and changing the way consumers consume content right now, Apple could make a big move on the board and acquire everything giant Apple.

Yahoo Finance talked about Apple having the ability to "possibly take advantage of those struggles" that Disney is going through right now, with Disney stock plummeting 40% in the last month alone.

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Rumor: Next Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC fighter delayed

Jak Connor | Gaming | Mar 18, 2020 3:21 AM CDT

Coronavirus COVID-19 is canceling and delaying things left right and center, and now the latest thing to be delayed is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's next DLC fighter.

Rumor: Next Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC fighter delayed

The news has come from PushDustIn, who is known for translating Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Director Masahiro Sakurai's Famitsu column regarding the development of the game. According to PushDustIn, excerpts of Sakurai's next column have been leaked online, and from the translations, the upcoming announcement for the next DLC fighter has been "put on hold" due to COVID-19.

There's no doubt that the now global virus is drastically affecting multiple industries across the planet, and that means game development as well. So, this isn't that surprising considering studios such as CD Projekt Red have already told their workers to begin working from home, hindering game development process. The same will likely happen for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which will most likely push the expected completion date of Fighters Pass 2 back further.

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Call of Duty: Warzone update adds solo mode, and fixes in-game bugs

Jak Connor | Gaming | Mar 18, 2020 2:51 AM CDT

Call of Duty: Warzone is off to a big start, with over 15 million players already joining in on the action.

Call of Duty: Warzone update adds solo mode, and fixes in-game bugs

Warzone is amassing extreme popularity in the battle royale genre, and to keep players enticed Infinity Ward and Activision have rolled out a new update. Inside of this update are numerous bug fixes that the community was no doubt complaining about, and an addition to being able to jump into Warzone completely solo.

Infinity Ward will no doubt contain rolling out updates that contain fixes for Warzone, as the game is still young and has a lot of distance still yet to go. One of the more notable bug fixes inside this update is that players who downed an enemy player will be rewarded with kills, instead of who killed the enemy player while they were down. If you are interested in checking out the full update notes, dot points have been provided in the entirety of this post, or a link to the official site can be found here.

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Google data: coronavirus might spark US housing market crash

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Mar 18, 2020 12:25 AM CDT

It looks like things could go from (really) bad to unbelievably bad when it comes to the flow-on effects of coronavirus COVID-19.

Google data: coronavirus might spark US housing market crash

Coronavirus could crash the entire US housing market causing trillions of dollars in damage, and affecting hundreds of millions of Americans. The latest data from Google Trends is a big indicator towards this, with Google searches of "unemployment benefits" shoot up.

As you can see from the Google Trends data on US-based users searches for "Unemployment Benefits" it has skyrocketed in the last week or so. But the issue is, it's not just searches for "unemployment benefits" that is concerning, because "can't pay rent" searches are surging, too.

Continue reading: Google data: coronavirus might spark US housing market crash (full post)