Mobile World Congress is right around the corner, and with major companies like LG and NVIDIA pulling out of the mobile-focused event, MWC organizers GSMA have some new ground rules because of coronavirus fears.

GSMA has banned anyone coming from the Hubei province in China, where Wuhan is the capital and thought to be the origin of the coronavirus outbreak. Catalan health minister Alba Verges explains: "The Catalan health system is prepared to detect and treat coronavirus, to give the most appropriate response, and this must be clear to those attending MWC Barcelona".

As for the rules for MWC 2020, GSMA CEO John Hoffman laid them out:

It looks like System Shock 3 is in disarray, with new reports that the original team working on the game have disbanded.

According to RPGCodex member 'Kin Corn Karn', a former developer on System Shock 3, who explains: "The only reason I'm posting is because I saw so much confusion about the state of the company and the project. I thought some first person information would be welcome. I never suggested we were halfway done, core systems are a great foundation for a game but most of the work is content development which we were critically behind in, both in real assets and in tool support for an efficient pipeline".

All of the high expectations for System Shock 3 are being blamed on its messy development, with the poster continuing: "Those high expectations drove a lot of expensive experimentation. We were a small team and knew we couldn't compete with current immersive sims in production quality and breadth. So, we had to be creative and clever and weird. And we were on our way to make something unique and possibly fun, but probably not what the audience was hungry for".

Apple debuted its new high-end Mac Pro last year, which can be configured with some pretty wicked-fast hardware and can pack up to an insane 1.5TB of RAM and cost up to $50,000. That 1.5 terabytes of RAM is meant to be used for professionals and content creators, but what about Google Chrome?

Jonathan Morrison used his fresh new Mac Pro with 1.5TB of RAM and put it to the test, opening up countless Chrome tabs that started with around 2000 tabs chewing up 75GB of RAM. From there, over 5000 tabs were opened and Chrome was using over 170GB of RAM. But after leaving the system overnight, Morrison came back to see over 6000 tabs open and Chrome RAM usage hitting 857GB.

The testing continued, with Chrome pushing up past 1TB of RAM, into the max territory of 1.4TB of RAM -- simply insane. In the end, Morrison's new Mac Pro packed with 1.5TB of RAM eventually saw Chrome crash -- shocker -- but other apps within macOS were operating normally. A testament to Apple's own macOS, and a snicker towards Google and its web browser Chrome.

The PlayStation Network could start natively serving up convenience microtransactions on a platform level.

Sony's latest patent is extremely interesting. Basically it's an integrated system that automatically reminds gamers about time-saving microtransactions, and gives real-time stats on how said convenience shortcuts could help them save time. The patent also covers a lot of bases that aren't necessarily related to in-game purchases.

The system, for example, will give you tips on how to defeat the bosses via materials, weapons, and items found naturally in the game. Gamers can ask for help within the system itself, e.g. how to defeat a certain boss or get past a certain obstacle, and the system will give a solution. This version of the patent actually sounds pretty great, kind of like a built-in guide or on-screen tip system within the game that gives you key info on how to proceed.

Right now Google's Stadia game streaming service is basically a paid beta test, but the free option is coming...soon.

Stadia is still in its wonky pre-release phases, but when the free version rolls out, Google's service will be more accessible than ever. Anyone will be able to fire up Chrome, buy a game, and instantly jump right into the action without having to buy any console or PC gaming hardware. This kind of flexibility is extremely potent and represents a proving point for Google's fledgling gaming business.

So when is Stadia getting its free tier? It could be up to 90 days away. In a recent interview with Protocol, Google's Phil Harrison gave a tentative timeline: "The big strategic difference is that over the next few months you will be able to experience Stadia for free. No money down, without having to put a box in your home, you can just click and play amazing games straight from our data center."

Ubisoft's comments on PS5 and Xbox Series X backward compatibility have been blown wildly out of proportion.

I've seen lots of reports lately that Ubisoft said next-gen consoles like the PS5 will play PS1, PS2, and even PS3 legacy games. This isn't accurate. After listening to Ubisoft Q3'20 earnings call, I'm confident that isn't what Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot actually said, nor is it what he meant to say.

All Mr. Guillemot said was that next-gen will play current-gen games, and that the overlap between generations will catalyze sales across both life cycles. There's no indication he's talking about next-gen systems playing currently-unsupported titles. The basic premise is if current-gen consoles can play it, next-gen systems will too, and both Sony and Microsoft have confirmed backward compatibility. (Xbox Series X will play four generations' worth of Xbox games, for example.)

Ubisoft will kick off the next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X console cycle with a bang, and plans to release three heavy-hitting sequels in six months' time.

Ubisoft is planning a huge comeback. In its recent Q3'20 earnings call, the publisher announced that it plans to ship 5 major AAA games in Fiscal Year 2021, and three of these will be massive entries in its biggest IPs. We didn't get any official confirmation on the games, but Kotaku's Jason Schreier, who has knowledge of Ubisoft's plans, says the slate includes a new Far Cry, a new Assassin's Creed, and the previously announced Watch Dogs Legion. All of which will be optimized for next-gen consoles, as per Ubisoft's previous words.

"We are very excited about the idea of releasing five new AAA games in 2020-21. Although the competitive environment is looking especially tough, production of these games is progressing well and each of them comes with great features that set them apart," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said in the call.

Cyberpunk 2077 will be one of the best-looking games of its generation when it launches, but there will be some really awesome RTX abilities and real-time global illumination that will put a twinkle in gamers' eyes. You'll also want to buy a kick ass Dolby Atmos sound system for Cyberpunk 2077, according to CDPR.

In a recent interview between OnMSFT and CD Projekt RED staffer John Mamais, we found out some details on the game, including the real-time global illumination system that Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt RED has worked on. In the interview, Mamais said: "There is some stuff that hasn't been talked about such as the way that it's been lit".

Mamais continued: "Our director keeps talking about the real-time global illumination system which we haven't really seen in its full beauty yet. No one in the public has seen how it's finally going to look. It's going to look more breathtaking than we've seen so far".

Raijintek has just unveiled its Samos AD5700 RBW, which is a new full-cover water block for AMD's Radeon RX 5700 series graphics cards. Check it out:

Raijintek designed the new Samos AD5700 RBW to fit onto AMD's own reference Radeon RX 5700 and Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics cards, packing a nickel-copper thermal plate, and translucent acrylic top cover. The full-cover cold plate will provide water cooling goodness to the most important parts of your Navi-powered graphics card: the GPU itself, GDDR6 modules, and the VRM power delivery MOSFET.

We have a 12mm thick clear acrylic top cover that features built-in G1/4" inlets/outlets, RGB lighting (which looks awesome) and is completely customization through motherboard manufacturer RGB lighting apps through a 4-pin 5V ARGB header. On the back, Raijintek offers up a black-themed aluminum backplate with passive cooling to the VRMs on the back of the card.

Can you believe we're in 2020, where you'll be able to major in weed at Colorado State University-Pueblo? It's true, with Denver Post reporting that the university just received approval for the Denver's first degree program focused on cannabis.

The program is called "Cannabis, Biology and Chemistry" and will see the course similar to double-majoring in biology and chemistry, while focusing on the science required to work in the world of cannabis, according to David Lehmpuhl, dean of CSU-Pueblo's College of Science and Mathematics.

Lehmpuhl said: "It's a rigorous degree geared toward the increasing demand coming about because of the cannabis industry. Hemp and marijuana has really come to the forefront in a lot of economic sectors in the country. We're not pro-cannabis or anti-cannabis. What we're about will be the science and training students to look at that science".