Mortal Kombat & Mario Kart added to Video Game Hall of Fame

Jak Connor | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | May 6, 2019 5:00 AM CDT

Three brand new titles have been added to the Video Game Hall of Fame, these titles have been deemed to have impacted video gaming and pop culture heavily earning their way into the Hall of Fame.

Mortal Kombat & Mario Kart added to Video Game Hall of Fame

First off we have Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat raised a lot of eye brows when it was released back in 1992 with its over-the-top violence and how children reacted to it. Originally, many parents and doctors believed that violence within video games resulted in the child growing up and developing violent traits, it was recently discovered that there is no hard evidence to this claim.

Microsoft's Solitaire has also been inducted into the Hall of Fame, marking that classically old games as old as Solitaire can still attract a massive amount of people. Solitaire has been installed in over 1 billion PC's around the world. Super Mario Kart which was released back in 1992 was also introduced to the Hall of Fame and it is said the game deserved this honor for the way its led genre defining experience in racing games. The World Video Game Hall of Fame officials have said they siphoned through over 1,000 nominations for these awards from more than 100 countries. They managed to get the nominees down to 12, the others that didn't quite make it are; Candy Crush Saga, Half-Life, NBA 2K, Sid Meier's Civilization and Super Smash Bros. Melee

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SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft brings supplies to Space Station

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | May 6, 2019 4:00 AM CDT

NASA has announced that SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft is set to deliver supplies to the International Space Station today, the craft will bring science supplies and hardware.

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft brings supplies to Space Station

NASA has shared the news to its official Twitter account saying that Dragon will be leaving earth and will rendezvous with the Space Station starting on 5:30am ET. The launch will be live-streamed and will be the expected arrival time is 7:30 a.m. Back in early March we learned that the mission would carry 400 pounds of supplies and equipment and that eventually SpaceX will be looking to send astronauts and not just cargo to the International Space Station.

If you are interested in checking out the successful splashdown of the Crew Dragon back in early March visit that footage here. If you want to keep on top of what NASA is doing you can visit the official NASA website here.

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate next DLC fighter revealed soon?

Jak Connor | Gaming | May 6, 2019 3:00 AM CDT

Nintendo just introduced Joker into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as the first fighter to be apart of the Fighter Pass. Even though he arrived with the version 3.0 patch which wasn't that long ago, could we already be seeing a tease for the next fighter in the pass?

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate next DLC fighter revealed soon?

Some reports have come out about a rumor that Nintendo are gearing up to reveal or at least tease the next character in the fighters pass. The rumors circle around the Super Smash Bros. YouTube Channel which a blue dot is located next to the channel name on YouTube. When clicking into a channel and viewing the channels video content the blue dot besides the name is supposed to be removed, this for some reason doesn't occur for the Super Smash Bros. channel.

It is believed that this is happening because the Super Smash Bros. channel has been updated with a video that has been categorized as private or unlisted. It is possible that if there is an unlisted or private video that it could be revealed within the near future. I personally doubt it will be a tease for the next fighter in the Fighters Pass as it is still not that long since Joker has been released.

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US Air Force take missile down with next-gen defensive laser

Jak Connor | Science, Space, Health & Robotics | May 6, 2019 2:00 AM CDT

The US Air Force has gone next-gen in defensive technology and have demonstrated with a ground-based laser that they can shoot missiles out of the air.

US Air Force take missile down with next-gen defensive laser

The above image is what is called Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator, or SHiELD for short. SHiELD is located at the White Sands Missile Range and a recent demonstration has proved that the new technology can still perform when intense scenarios are occurring. The laser is intended as a defensive technology, with the end goal being it shrinking down and becoming portable by it being applied to jets.

While this is some pretty darn cool technology don't expect that it will be going live anytime soon. The first airborne tests are expected to be conducted sometime in 2021, so its a fair way off before it is implemented. When that time arrives and SHiELD is fully developed air combat could be changed forever as the ultimate defensive weapons has been created.

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17,000 Pokemon GO players unite, clean up 145 tons of trash

Jak Connor | Gaming | May 6, 2019 1:00 AM CDT

The developers of the extremely popular and very successful Pokemon GO app have assisted communities around the world in support of the global Earth Day movement.

17,000 Pokemon GO players unite, clean up 145 tons of trash

Niantic, the developer of Pokemon GO has ran a in-game event to encourage people to support Earth Day. The event rewarded players with an increase spawn rate for ground type Pokemon, the more people joined the bonuses were gained. Each of the reward levels were as follows; 2,000 players increased ground type spawn rates, 5,000 people shiny Diglettes would appear within 48 hours of the goal being reached. Lastly, 7,000 players joining made Groudon spawn in raids and stardust and candy would double.

Niantic has reported that a total number of 41,000 hours were put into the event and that 41 countries participated and cleaned up 145 tons of trash. 17,000 Pokemon GO players united across the globe, Niantic's responded to the success of the event by saying "We're astounded with how much everyone involved has achieved - an effort like this highlights how much impact people can have when they work together. Players worked in groups of 1 to 2,500, alongside government agencies, volunteer organizations, and fellow community members, creating incredible impact."

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NVIDIA stops making non-A die Turing for RTX 2080, RTX 2070

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | May 5, 2019 11:37 PM CDT

When the first Turing GPUs were being made NVIDIA split the silicon into two camps: higher-quality Turing A-dies for higher-end custom overclocked GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2070 cards, while non-overclocked more stock cards had the non-A die silicon.

NVIDIA stops making non-A die Turing for RTX 2080, RTX 2070

Tom's Hardware Germany boss Igor Wallossek reports that NVIDIA will stop making the non-A die silicon, and from here on out only produce A-dies of the Turing TU104-410 (RTX 2080) and TU106-410 (RTX 2070). This means that from here on out NVIDIA will only supply AIBs with the higher-quality A-die silicon meaning we could see a new wave of RTX 2070 and RTX 2080s with higher OC ceilings.

We should at least see an across the board increase in base and boost GPU clock speeds on the next wave of RTX 2070 and RTX 2080s that could lead the higher-end custom cards to have access to higher GPU clocks with a few tweaks to the voltage limits NVIDIA has in place. If they untightened those a bit NVID IA could have higher-end RTX 2070 and 2080s that better compete with what AMD has coming around the corner with rumored Radeon RX 3080 XT rumored for $339, a far cry from the starting price of $599 for the GeForce RTX 2070.

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Avengers: Endgame passes Titanic with $2.2 billion so far

Anthony Garreffa | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | May 5, 2019 10:28 PM CDT

Well holy sh*t, the Avengers: Endgame has reached level 3000 or rather has become the second-highest-grossing movie of all time. It has just beaten Titanic (1997) which grossed $2.187 billion (when adjusted for inflation) and now has Avatar set in its sights.

Avengers: Endgame passes Titanic with $2.2 billion so far

Avengers: Endgame has now made $2.189 billion and we're barely two weeks into its run in theaters, with the next movie in its sights is the highest-grossing movie of all time, Avatar. Avatar had a huge haul (well at least it did until now) of $2.8 billion globally, and it seems at this rate Avengers: Endgame will beat that by next week.

James Cameron directed both Titanic and Avatar and since the 2009 release of Avatar he hasn't had any major tent pole movies released, with Avatar 2 now set to release on 17 December 2020. Until Avatar 2 it looks like Disney and Marvel Studios will have the #1 grossing movie of all time with Avengers: Endgame.

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AMD drops third-gen Threadripper from 2019 roadmap

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | May 5, 2019 9:39 PM CDT

AMD was originally expected to unveil next-gen Ryzen Threadripper 3000 series CPUs in the coming months based on the new Zen 2 architecture and the new 7nm process node. But in AMD's own 2019 client line up the new third-gen Ryzen Threadrippers are missing.

AMD drops third-gen Threadripper from 2019 roadmap

In the last 2019 roadmap image AMD had detailed the third-gen Ryzen Threadripper CPUs in its 'non-stop product momentum' which has hit a stop, and dropped momentum with the latest roadmap. The new high-core count CPUs have mysteriously been omitted by AMD, and in its place the company will most likely deploy the next-gen Zen 2-based Ryzen desktop CPUs on the new 500-series motherboards on the cheaper, simpler AM4 socket.

What does this mean for the future of Ryzen Threadripper? Well, we'll have to wait and see what AMD says and if there's an update (and yet another change) to the 2019 roadmap at AMD's upcoming press conference at Computex 2019.

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AMD's new Radeon RX 3080 XT: RTX 2070 performance for $330?!

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | May 5, 2019 8:27 PM CDT

Hot on the heels of the purported Radeon RX 3090 XT flagship Navi graphics card rumors, were some specs on the Navi 10-based graphics cards that we WILL see launched at E3 2019.

AMD's new Radeon RX 3080 XT: RTX 2070 performance for $330?!

AMD is reportedly getting the Radeon RX 3080 XT ready for E3 2019 with its Navi 10 GPU on the 7nm node, with what should be 8GB of GDDR6 memory. The Navi 10 GPU will, according to the new leaks, feature 56 compute units from the Navi 10 GPU on a 190W TDP and provide performance close to NVIDIA's Turing-based GeForce RTX 2070. All of this will reportedly launch for $330 which would be a game changer.

NVIDIA sells its GeForce RTX 2070 graphics card for $599 which would mean if the rumors are true and the purported Radeon RX 3080 XT does indeed sell for $330 and has the performance of the RTX 2070, NVIDIA wouldn't be in trouble but it will have to react with massive price drops.

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AMD flagship Navi rumor: Radeon RX 3090 XT for $499 in 2020

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | May 5, 2019 7:59 PM CDT

The latest rumor on AMD's next-gen Navi GPU architecture comes in the form of some purported specs and card names, as well as performance numbers and preliminary pricing. Everything from here should be taken with a large handful, not just a pinch, of salt.

AMD flagship Navi rumor: Radeon RX 3090 XT for $499 in 2020

According to my exclusive sources AMD will be detailing the new Navi-based Radeon graphics cards at E3 2019 which takes place just over a week after Computex 2019 where AMD will also unveil its new Zen 2-based Ryzen 3000 series CPUs. The new rumor on Navi is the aforementioned specs, pricing, performance and TDP of some of the cards.

We will reportedly be looking at a flagship Radeon RX 3090 XT signifying that AMD will continue its 3000-series products from its upcoming Ryzen 3000 series into Radeon RX 3000 series cards. AMD's purported Radeon RX 3090 XT will be based on the Navi 20 GPU and won't be here until 2020, meaning it will be fighting an uphill battle against what NVIDIA already has on the market in the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti that will still beat it let alone the 7nm refresh and new Ampere GPU architecture that are both around the corner.

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