Last images from Cassini satellite give insight into Saturn's auroras

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | Jan 15, 2020 12:33 AM CST

NASA's Cassini satellite ended its 13-year mission in September 2017, but scientists and researchers are analyzing some of the final data sets sent back from it.

Last images from Cassini satellite give insight into Saturn's auroras

The new data was analyzed, and two new studies have been published in Geophysical Research Letters and JGR: Space Physics detailing some new understanding regarding Saturn's rings. For those that don't know, Cassini's main mission was to observe Saturn, and it did so very well. Throughout the course of its life, it gave scientists numerous vital pieces of information that helped piece together our now present understanding of Saturn.

Cassini was moved to an orbit that brought it closer to Saturn than ever before, and at this length, scientists and researchers were able to obtain images of Saturn's ultraviolet auroras at some never before seen resolution. So what's Saturn's aurora? Saturn's auroras are generated by the interaction between the solar wind from the sun, which shoots out energized particles, and Saturn's rapidly rotating magnetic field. The auroras are found at the planet's poles and are known to flash and pulsate at different speeds.

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Galaxy S20 will have 120Hz display, but limited to 1080p

Samsung will be unveiling its next-gen Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Z Flip smartphones at its Unpacked event on February 11, but now we're receiving more leaks on the super-fast 120Hz display.

Galaxy S20 will have 120Hz display, but limited to 1080p

According to Ice Universe, Samsung's new Galaxy S20 will indeed have a 120Hz display -- but it'll be limited to 1080p. There will be other options for the display: 1080p 60Hz, 1080p 120Hz, and the higher-end 1440p 60Hz display option.

Why the limitation of 1080p 120Hz? That would be mostly due to battery, and how much more battery it would consume at 120Hz. I would rather have 1080p at 120Hz than 1080p at 60Hz, so the offer there of 120Hz and a slight dent in battery life will be welcomed -- but 1440p at 120Hz seems too painful on the battery, for now.

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AMD Radeon RX 5950 XT spotted, again: is this Big Navi?

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Jan 14, 2020 8:26 PM CST

We know that AMD is cooking up a competitor to NVIDIA's enthusiast range of GeForce RTX graphics cards, something that is dubbed Big Navi -- and here we are again with a new leak.

VideoCardz is reporting that board partner AFOX submitted multiple new SKUs to the EEC, for a bunch of unreleased and unannounced Radeon graphics cards. These cards include the Radeon RX 5800 XT, Radeon RX 5900, Radeon RX 5950, and what should be the flagship Radeon RX 5950 XT.

This isn't the first time we've heard about a monster new Radeon, but the naming scheme is giving me some tingles of nostalgia back to the dual-GPU beast in the Hawaii-based Radeon R9 295XT. There's nothing else here to report, other than what could be another spotting of AMD's Big Navi and its name -- Radeon RX 5950 XT.

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Don't worry, gender-neutral voice assistants are on the way

Voice assistants are about to get much more inclusive, with Project Q launching in 2020 as a "gender-neutral voice assistant".

Don't worry, gender-neutral voice assistants are on the way

Ryan Sherman, a creative developer on Project Q, explains: "Current voice technology is essentially gendered. When we look at Siri or Google Assistant they all predominantly start out as female by default, so we started out with that question: why do we gender AI?"

Project Q launched back in 2019 with a prototype voice developed by non-binary linguists, and then the company asked 4500 people throughout Europe whether they thought the voice sounded male or female. Out of the 4500 people, the answers came down to a 50/50 response on whether the voice sounded male or female.

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Epic Store game sales made up 39% of total $680 million yearly revenue

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 14, 2020 6:32 PM CST

The Epic Store has made over $608 million in total revenues to date, but less than half of that is actually from game sales.

Epic Store game sales made up 39% of total $680 million yearly revenue

Epic just revealed some surprising figures on its new storefront. The Epic Games Store is doing quite well and has amassed $608 million in accumulated spending over the last year or so. But there's one catch: Only 39% of that, or $251 million, was made from third-party game sales. The other $357 million was generated from Fortnite microtransactions on PC (for reference, Fortnite earned $1.8 billion on all platforms in 2019).

Remember the Epic Games Store isn't just a marketplace but also a launcher for the industry's most lucrative battle royale sensation. So all of those numbers--earnings and active users--are mixed together. It's no different than Counter-Strike GO, Team Fortress, or DOTA 2 on Steam.

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Nemesis gives us massive anxiety in new Resident Evil 3 trailer

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 14, 2020 5:35 PM CST

In early 2019, I proclaimed Capcom as the masters of horror. This new Resident Evil 3 Remake trailer ups the ante with more action and thrills.

Nemesis gives us massive anxiety in new Resident Evil 3 trailer

Capcom just dropped a new Resident Evil 3 Remake trailer and it's giving me all kinds of anxiety. The footage conjures up flashback from the PS1 original where Nemesis relentlessly tracks your movements through a ruined hellscape city full of undead. Tyrant was bad and constantly made you feel like prey, but Nemesis is worse...much worse. Capcom says he's more unpredictable and dangerous...and the trailer really highlights this. Nemesis is crashing through roofs when you least expect it, and smacking everything with his wicked tentacle whip.

The latest trailer also confirms the terrifying hybrid hunter monstrosities are back to wreck your day. To supplement the footage, Capcom dropped a ton of screenshots for friendly faces like Carlos Oliveira, Bad Vickers, and a handful of other U.B.C.S operatives, as well as undead terrors like Nemesis and the freakish hunters.

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id: Doom Eternal is the best game we've ever made

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 14, 2020 5:04 PM CST

Doom Eternal isn't just the best Doom game id has ever made, but their best game altogether. That's a pretty tall order, but it looks like id can deliver.

id: Doom Eternal is the best game we've ever made

id Software is teasing big things for its new brutal demon-slaying shooter. Not only will Doom Eternal deliver insane next-gen FPS carnage with ultra-smooth frame rates, but it'll do with the best-looking graphics id's new revamped engine is capable of. The delay will apparently be well worth the wait.

"DOOM Eternal is the best game we have ever made," id lead engine programmer Billy Khan said on Twitter.

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Gamestop's Q3 net loss is dramatically lower than last year's

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 14, 2020 4:03 PM CST

Gamestop is being squeezed further by digital game sales and subscriptions, but their Q3 losses are actually substantially lower than last year's.

Gamestop's Q3 net loss is dramatically lower than last year's

Gamestop is having a rough time. Its financial losses have forced closures of stores nationwide, and even overseas EB Games stores. As more stores close, Gamestop's hold on the physical game sales market shrinks. It seems to be a lose-lose for the retailer.

There's a silver lining though. Yes, Gamestop is still losing money, but it's losing less money than last year. In its recent Q3'20 financial report, Gamestop confirmed net losses of $83.4 million, representing a huge 83% reduction in net losses from last year's disastrous $488.6 million net loss. Despite reporting a 25.7% decrease in total global sales during the critical holiday months, Gamestop managed to rake in $1.4 billion in the three-month period.

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Final Fantasy 7 Remake delayed to April

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jan 14, 2020 11:59 AM CST

Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been delayed again, this time to April 2020, putting it firmly against CD Projekt RED's Cyberpunk 2077.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake delayed to April

Today Square Enix confirmed Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been pushed back a few weeks past its original March 20 release date. The game will now launch on April 10, 2020 on PlayStation 4. The dev team simply wants more time to optimize the experience for the current PlayStation family of consoles.

"In order to ensure we deliver a game that is in-line with our vision, and the quality that our fans who have been waiting for deserve, we have decided to move the release date to April 10, 2020," FF7 Remake producer Yoshinori Kitase said in a recent update.

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There's been an entirely new Harry Potter game created in Minecraft

Jak Connor | Gaming | Jan 14, 2020 4:44 AM CST

If you are a big Harry Potter fan and also find yourself spending hours in Minecraft enjoying some building, then you are in luck as you can go to Hogwarts if you like.

There's been an entirely new Harry Potter game created in Minecraft

The Floo Network has posted a new video to their YouTube Channel that reveals what can only be considered as a Harry Potter fan's dream, but playable in Minecraft. Players can attend the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, cast spells, learn new ones, traverse the halls of Hogwarts, complete quests/puzzles, explore a Harry Potter-themed map, trade-in Diagon alley and find new items.

Players will also be able to explore famous locations that were present throughout the Harry Potter series, such as the Quidditch fields, Hagrid's house, the Weasley house, and more. This isn't just a small "map" added to Minecraft. This is more like an entire new Harry Potter game inside of Minecraft. It would have taken the creators of this map hundreds if not thousands of hours to create this map at this level of detail. At the moment, we don't know when it's going to release, but we do know that it will be released for free.

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