Latest News - Page 360

A clip of Hayao Miyazaki talking about computer-generated animation has resurfaced amid the massive wave of Studio Ghibli-inspired images taking over social media platforms thanks to OpenAI's newly released AI image generator.

The resurfaced clip comes after OpenAI rolled out its new GPT-4o image generator that enables users to take any image, within the tool's terms of service, and convert it into a Studio Ghibli-style animated image. Users have flocked to the new AI image-generation tool, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman writing in a recent X post that the release of the new tool attracted more than one million new users to the platform in just an hour, which is more than ChatGPT attracted in five days.

The tsunami of Studio Ghibli-inspired images has caused people to dig through past interviews with Hayao Miyazaki, the creator of the art style, to see if we can gain any knowledge on how he feels about the new tool or AI image generation as a whole.

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS!

Back in 2021, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage and announced that the company was changing its name to Meta to bring all its various apps and technologies under a single name and bring the "metaverse to life." If you're unfamiliar, the metaverse is a fancy word for virtual reality - specifically apps like VR Chat, where you put on your goggles and chat with real people represented by crudely animated avatars.

Fast-forward to 2025, and Meta isn't so much focused on bringing the "metaverse to life" as it is on investing in AI, developing powerful large-language models, and integrating AI features and tools into its products. Like some of the other big names in tech that are going all-in on AI, Meta is building its new AI foundation using powerful NVIDIA GPU hardware.

The release of OpenAI's latest image-generation tool that's powered by the advanced GPT-4o model has taken the internet by storm, with millions of users flocking to the new AI tool to spawn countless new images inspired by the iconic Studio Ghibli art style.

The new image-generation tool is able to take almost any image and recreate it with the art style inspired by Studio Ghibli, created by famed director Hayao Miyazaki, who helmed many highly rated animated movies such as Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and My Neighbor Totoro. These images have already taken over the internet with tsunamis of them being posted on multiple social media platforms as users are taking real-life historical events, iconic scenes from other movies, and famous people, and recreating them in the Studio Ghibli art style.

With this massive increase in popularity comes a cost that OpenAI is paying, and that cost is in GPU processing power, which company CEO Sam Altman said a few days ago was so high that OpenAI's GPUs are "melting" under the demand. In fact, the demand was so high that Altman announced that rate limits had to be implemented, and in a follow-up announcement, he pleaded with users to "chill" on generating images as the OpenAI team "needs sleep."

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has responded to some heavy criticism about his ability to achieve top leaderboard rankings while running multiple industry-leading businesses simultaneously.

The business magnate shared a video of him playing Diablo IV on March 29, seemingly clearing an end-game-level room with ease. The video sparked some fairly contentious replies from the public, with one commenter writing that right after the video was taken, "the 18-year-old intern was right back in playing with your account." The commenter continued and said, "Nobody believes that you are the global top 3 player in between running the federal government and managing world companies. Do better; this is simply not possible."

Musk responded to this comment with his own reply, cheekily writing, "You're right. I should be #1. I got overconfident with Kekius_Maximus, and he died." For those who don't know, Kekius_Maximus is the name of the character Musk was playing. Notably, Musk has already admitted to cheating and breaking the terms of service of both Path of Exile 2 and Diablo IV for account sharing.

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS!

A not-so-surprising move from Elon Musk is that the SpaceX and Tesla boss has just acquired US chipmaker Intel for a tidy $133 billion, with a new Core xAI processor that will power the next-generation Xbox AI console.

People familiar with the matter confirmed rumors from the last few months that a mystery buyer was looking at acquiring Intel as it was struggling, but Intel's freshly-minted CEO Lip-Bu Tan will work alongside Musk, and strengthen the partnership between Intel and Microsoft to provide a US-made chip for the next-gen Xbox.

The Blue Screen of Death, or BSOD, has been a part of Windows since Windows 3.0 launched in 1990. The latest version has been around for a few Windows versions, where errors necessitating a complete system restart display a sad smiley face with a QR code and some information on what happened.

As part of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.3653, Microsoft is "previewing a new, more streamlined UI for unexpected restarts which better aligns with Windows 11 design principles." For Windows Insiders, this new screen is green, drops the sad smiley face and QR code, and presents a simple "Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart" message alongside information on the error at the bottom of the screen.

Green is a more neutral and positive color than blue, so maybe the idea is, "Hey, it's okay; we just need to reboot." However, a new report at Windows Latest says that once the Blue Screen of Death disappears, it will be replaced by a Black Screen of Death.

Apple is thirsty for the health market, with some rumored upgrades coming from the company that would add an AI doctor into its Health app, using its wearables to monitor users' health and alert them to any issues, or help them with their general health along the way.

In a new report from Bloomberg insider Mark Gurman, Apple "has some moon-shot initiatives in the works that could indeed transform the health industry. That includes a 15-year-plus project to create a noninvasive glucose monitor. The idea, which originated while Steve Jobs was still alive, is to add a sensor to the Apple Watch that can inform users if they are prediabetic, helping them potentially avoid the full-blown condition".

This project remains "active" at Apple notes Gurman, and has reached "key milestones" but they're still "many years away" from delivering this new feature. Apple has hit some issues regarding health sensors, including for blood oxygen and hypertension. The blood oxygen monitoring feature was dropped from the Apple Watch over a patent fight, while the hypertension feature has had issues in development.

CrystalMark Retro 2.0, from Crystal Dew World, is a free benchmarking tool that has just been updated to support Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me systems. It took a year of development to extend the tool to cover retro hardware older than Windows XP.

"I decided that Windows 95/NT 4.0 compatibility was necessary to call ourselves a true retro benchmark," Hiyohiyo, the President and CEO of CrystalMark Inc., wrote in the release notes. "It really took a whole year." In addition to supporting ancient beige machines rocking Windows 95, users can post their benchmark results and compare them against modern machines at https://crystalmarkdb.com/retro.

CrystalMark Retro is a complete benchmark suite that measures CPU, storage, 2D graphics, and 3D graphics (OpenGL) performance. It's compatible with VMware, so you can see how Windows 95 runs on a system with an AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995X 64-Core CPU - per the screenshot above.

AMD has officially closed its $4.9 billion acquisition of ZT Systems, a leading provider of AI infrastructure for the world's largest hyperscale computing companies.

In a new post on X, the company said: "We are excited to welcome the ZT team into the AMD family - they are the best in the industry! The ZT team brings unparalleled choice to our customers with critical systems expertise needed to deliver a full AI solution - from silicon to software to rack and cluster-level solutions".

ZT Systems is an artificial intelligence infrastructure group that will help AMD create a better AI infrastructure, helping get AMD's new Instinct MI300 series AI accelerators into data centers. ZT Systems was founded over 30 years ago, and is a private company that builds custom computing infrastructure for some of the world's biggest AI hyperscalers.

You might be looking at the date and thinking that we're close enough to April 1 that this is some sort of tongue-in-cheek story, but it's not. For those that know their NVIDIA lore, as plans were being put in place to start one of the biggest tech companies in the world, co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang's first job was at American diner-style restaurant chain Denny's.

Between long shifts and saving up enough money to start a new business (and probably putting a deposit on his first leather jacket), Jensen Huang would sit at Denny's booth drafting plans for what would end up being NVIDIA. For food, he would wrap Denny's sausages in Denny's pancakes, pour syrup over them, and eat them.

Questionable nutritional value aside, this was (apparently) a key stepping stone toward AI and PC gaming domination with CUDA, RTX, and GeForce. We like to think that seeing the reflection of his surroundings in the syrup made him realize that one day, real-time ray-tracing in games would be possible. Or not. Either way, this combination of Denny's food is now being sold as 'NVIDIA Breakfast Bytes' for a limited time.

Bit Reactor, a studio formed by key Firaxis members who worked on the modern XCOM strategy titles, is developing a new turn-based tactical Star Ware game in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment. With the game announced in 2022, it's expected to be revealed next month at the Star Wars Celebration, with the game getting its panel.

Ahead of its debut, we've gotten our first look at the game via MP1st, which has posted screenshots from a Bit Reactor artist who posted them to an online portfolio with the codename "Star Wars Bruno." Although these screenshots are from mid-2023, they clearly show gameplay and elements reminiscent of modern XCOM-style turn-based tactics games.

One of the screenshots that you can see above shows two units with Mandalorian armor in 'Overwatch' cover formation. In these games, any enemy that enters the 'Overwatch' zone is automatically fired upon. The screenshot also shows a Jedi character, a droid, and a clone trooper, with another zooming in on a Mandalorian unit choosing to throw a thermal detonator with a UI that includes controller button icons.

V-Color Technology has unveiled the world's first 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR5 O CUDIMM memory kit, with unprecedented speeds of up to 9000MT/s, specifically designed for Intel Core Ultra processors and the latest Z890 motherboards.

This new memory kit from v-color will be part of the company's acclaimed SCC lineup (Speed Booster, Colorful Makeover, Cost-Effective), delivering "unmatched capacity, speed, and reliability to empower systems for AI training, gamers, creators, and professional users worldwide".

V-color's new groundbreaking 64GB DDR5 OC memory kit represents a significant milestone for the memory industry says the company, combining ultra-high memory capacity with setting frequencies, ensuring exceptional performance and responsiveness for intensive workloads, gaming, and creative applications.

Only days after Ubisoft announced it was spawning a new subsidiary to handle all its major IPs, such as Assassin's Creed and Far Cry, the company's stock price has fallen double digits, erasing any progress it made following the announcement of the joint venture with Tencent.

Ubisoft's stock price gained 11% on Friday after it announced the new subsidiary in partnership with Ubisoft investor Tencent, and as of Monday, the stock price in the US, UK, and France has taken a double-digit point hit, falling by 11.80%. As for the UK specifically, Ubisoft opened at €12.15 and is now trading at €11.19, while in France, the stock price for the company fell by 12.06% to €11.16.

The decline in stock price has completely erased any value that was gained on Friday following the announcement of the new subsidiary. As for the new deal with Tencent, Ubisoft anticipates the closure of the deal will happen before the end of 2025, and once completed, Ubisoft will retain 75% control of the new company that will manage the following Ubisoft IPs: Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry.

Jagex has officially showcased a new RuneScape game powered by the incredible Unreal Engine 5 in new gameplay and teaser trailers.

RuneScape: Dragonwilds is an all-new open-world survival crafting game powered by Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5, and will take players to the forgotten continent of Ashenfall, where dragons have awoken. Players will need to gather resources, build, improve skills, and, of course, fight the dangerous inhabitants of the continent to survive. Dragonwilds has already received a Steam listing where more details for the title can be found.

According to the listing, Dragonwilds will be a 1-4 player co-op title where progress for the party will be under constant threat from the "looming shadow of the Dragons".

Korean game giants are currently dueling over the rights to one of the most popular video games in the region.

Everyone wants to make a StarCraft game--At least that's what it seems like in South Korea, where four major video game companies are vying for the StarCraft franchise. Sources tell newspaper Asia Today that NC Soft, Nexon, Netmarble, and Krafton are all interested in making a new entry in the StarCraft universe.

Each has seen tremendous success in various markets and fields, with NCSoft innovating the MMORPG genre and Krafton helping mature PUBG and the battle royale genres. Reports say that each of the four companies are also leaning into their core strengths. Nexon, for example, could leverage StarCraft as a cross-platform game; NCSoft could make an RPG; Netmarble might transform StarCraft into a mobile F2P game; and Krafton could make a first-person or third-person style experience.

CD Projekt isn't developing generative AI tools to make new games like The Witcher 4.

AI is growing and growing--OpenAI just raised another $40 billion, leading to a $300 billion valuation--and it seems like everyone plans to use it in some way. The tech sector in particular is leveraging AI in various ways behind the scenes, with Microsoft even going so far as to create a tool that can render a third-person shooter in real-time without a developer's help.

Generative AI is on the forefront and poses many possibilities and risks for the games industry. But not everyone is on board, and Polish developer CD Projekt isn't ready to go all-in on this kind of AI.

Nintendo has denied Switch 2 devkits to The Embracer Group, new reports indicate.

Nintendo is taking their time with distributing Switch 2 hardware development kits. Earlier today, Digital Foundry reiterated previous reports that some dev teams are waiting on Switch 2 kits: "Based on a lot of the things I've heard it also seems like many many many many developers are still without," DF's John Linnemann said.

Now there's reports that some companies have been denied devkits altogether. Sources have told games reporter Imran Khan that Embracer was one such group. The reality is that Embracer's business was seen as so volatile and unpredictable that Nintendo didn't want its precious, ultra-secret hardware to go missing should an Embracer subsidiary be shut down.

The US government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on its CHIPS Act under the Biden administration, but under the Trump administration -- along with Elon Musk and DOGE -- the CHIPS Act looks to be shelved, and 80% of its staffers have been purged.

President Trump isn't a fan of the CHIPS Act and has referred to customers getting "Biden money" but in a new report from Korean media, over 120 employees out of the 150 from the US Commerce Department's Chip Program Office (CPO) have either been laid off, or resigned from their positions.

One of the largest names being laid off is former VP of SK hynix that joined CPO as the Chief Economist, Dan Kim, with his departure suggesting that the CHIPS Act won't be focusing on South Korean companies like SK hynix and Samsung (makers of HBM for AI GPUs).

ASUS just teased the new "Xbox handheld," which is actually a Windows-powered PC similar to the existing ROG Ally.

Today ASUS dropped an interesting teaser trailer for a new device. Based on the footage, there's only one thing it could be: Some sort of handheld. Both Xbox and ASUS aren't being too enigmatic, either: Based on the recent leaks about Project Kennan, a lot of people are expecting an Xbox handheld of some kind. It's not exactly a surprise.

The footage also reflects this by flashing some not-so-subtle Xbox ABXY controller face buttons on the new ROG Ally's screen. The Xbox socials also responded to ASUS on Twitter with a perfect meme. The new Xbox-branded ROG Ally should be revealed soon with tons of info about what to expect from the handheld (and likely with the semi-disappointing realization that it's not a native Xbox handheld, but a native Windows handheld instead).

Microsoft typically has more games in the PlayStation Store's global top 10 pre-order charts than Sony does, new findings show.

Last year, Microsoft had more first-party games on PlayStation's best-seller list than Sony did. Now the same is true for PlayStation Store pre-order charts across select geographies. This new data suggests that Microsoft's plan to break Xbox platform exclusivity and bring its first-party games to PlayStation is continuing to pay off.

To get a better idea of how Microsoft's games are performing on PlayStation when it comes to pre-orders, I simply scanned the PS Store pages for various global regions. The data shows the top 10 pre-ordered games on the PlayStation Store across 14 different locales. According to the data, there were more Xbox games in all worldwide top 10 pre-order lists than there were PlayStation games.