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Rockstar's premium subscription service could be a major part of GTA 6's online component at launch, and could offer some other unique benefits to users.

In 2022, Rockstar announced GTA Plus (GTA+), a new subscription service specifically made for Grand Theft Auto Online. The service expanded and Rockstar created its own Game Pass-like service, complete with a rotating lineup of classic games. It's pretty much the most affordable and convenient way to access older Rockstar games because practically half of their catalog is on the service.

The value proposition has worked pretty well. Take-Two Interactive has commented a number of times on the success of GTA+ but hasn't given us actual subscriber figures. One thing's for sure, though: More people are buying into Rockstar's premium GTA+ offering. It's working so well that Rockstar raised the price of the subscription from $5.99 to $7.99 in April 2024.

Meta has been accused of torrenting an astonishing 81.7TB of pirated books to train its Llama AI models according to a new lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

The social networking giant has been accused of illegally torrenting copyrighted materials from sources including Z-Library and LibGen, with the plaintiffs led by author Richard Kadrey and others representing a proposed class, filing a motion objecting to a pre-trial discovery ruling that the authors argue limits their ability to gather critical evidence against Meta.

The authors claim that Meta's last-minute disclosure of over 2000 documents on December 13, 2024 just hours before the close of fact discovery revealed admissions from Meta employees about using pirated materials for its AI training. The newly-unsealed emails reveal damning evidence against Meta in a copyright lawsuit filed by book authors, claiming that Meta unlawfully trained its AI models using pirated books downloaded over torrents.

If sales trends are any indicator, Rockstar Games could finish Grand Theft Auto V's megaton legacy with $10 billion in cumulative earnings.

Grand Theft Auto VI is on the horizon, and when (if) it drops in Fall 2025 as executives have reaffirmed, GTA V's playerbase could tank. If everything goes according to plan, then GTA 6 could launch in Q2 or Q3 of Take-Two Interactive's fiscal year.

This gives the current GTA moneymakers--GTA V, GTA Online, and the GTA trilogy remaster on consoles/mobiles--up to 3 quarters to rake in money before everyone presumably moves to GTA 6.

NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU has appeared in new 3DMark TimeSpy benchmark results, tested against the current-gen RTX 4080 Laptop GPU.

The new GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU is 16.2% faster in TimeSpy versus the RTX 4080 Laptop GPU in new results shared by Top Player on Bilibili, with 21,948 points in TimeSpy's Graphics test. Compared to my own recent personal testing of the RTX 4060 Laptop GPU which scored 9316 points in the same test, and the RTX 4070 Laptop GPU which scored 12,131 points, the RTX 5080 Laptop GPU is shaping up very well indeed.

However, it falls radically short of the purported performance pushed by leakers like Moore's Law is Dead, who reported that we should expect 45-65% more performance out of the RTX 5080 Laptop GPU compared to the RTX 4080 Laptop GPU.

The Grand Theft Auto franchise has made over $9.5 billion in cumulative earnings since GTA V's release, new earnings documents reveal.

Take-Two's latest Q3FY25 results gave us a closer look at how much money the company made from the megaton GTA series. According to the reports, Grand Theft Auto products and services have made approximately $9.54 billion since the launch of GTA V in September 2013 to the end of 2024.

In Q3FY25, Take-Two made $179.465 million from the Grand Theft Auto series, up 4.42% quarter-over-quarter but down slightly year-over-year.

Have you ever sat there playing Call of Duty and thought 'man, I'd make for an awesome drone pilot in a real war', well, the Ukrainian military agrees with you... saying that COD players make great drone pilots in a war.

In a chat between battling it out in a war, Ukraine's special drone unit somehow had the time to speak with Business Insider. The unit is called Typhoon, saying that real drone warfare is far more complicated and more dangerous than using drones in games like Call of Duty.

Uncrewed systems, including a range of first-person view drones (FPV) are being used on Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, with Ukrainian operators comparing how they fly their drones, and how they play video games. FPV headsets aren't like VR systems, and while the controllers can be similar, they're different beasts.

Take-Two Interactive sees a substantial boost in stock value following yesterday's earnings results.

In a call to investors, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick expressed confidence that Grand Theft Auto 6 would release in 2025. "Yes, we did today reaffirm our schedule through the remainder of the calendar year. And I think we were pretty clear about that," Zelnick said. GTA 6 is listed for a Fall 2025 launch on the sheets provided to investors.

The news was spread far and wide, and the market took notice. TTWO stock is currently trading at, $210.88, up +$27.80 or 15.19% in day-to-day trading.

HP's new EliteBook X G1a laptop will feature AMD's new Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 "Strix Point" APU and a bonkers 128GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory.

This is the first laptop featuring 128GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory, as spotted by X user @AnhPhuH with HP offering multiple different configurations of its new EliteBook X G1a laptop. The highest-end configuration finds the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 "Strix Point" APU with 12 cores and 24 threads at up to 5.1GHz, but there's the option for the Ryzen AI 7 Pro 360 "Strix POint" APU, too.

On the GPU side of things, we've got the RDNA 3.5-based integrated Radeon 890M GPU that is found inside of the Strix Point APU, but the laptop comes with a huge 128GB of RAM no matter which APU you opt for. AnhPhuH notes on X that all three of the major DRAM manufacturers only have 128Gb x32 modules, and not 256Gb x32, and that the 128GB memory option is only available because of the 256Gb x32 modules.

Acer has just announced an expansion of its Predator Helios Neo family of gaming laptops, powered by up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor and NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU.

The new Acer Predator Helios Neo 18 AI gaming laptop features an 18-inch Mini-LED display with a 2560 x 1600 native resolution and super-smooth 250Hz refresh rate with a 3ms response time. Acer provides some other display configurations: an 18-inch LED with 1600p @ 240Hz, an 18-inch LED with 1600p @ 165Hz, and finally an 18-inch LED with 1200p @ 165Hz.

We have up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor (with the option for the Core Ultra 7 255HX), up to 64GB of DDR5-6400 memory, and up to 2TB of Gen4 SSDs. On the GPU side of things, Acer's new Predator Helios Neo 18 AI gaming laptop is configured with up to NVIDIA's new Blackwell-based GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU, with another option for the RTX 5070 Laptop GPU.

Intel's Nova Lake processors continue to be the subject of rumors, some of which have floated the idea that this might be the next generation of desktop CPUs from Team Blue, even though the silicon isn't due until 2026.

However, a fresh rumor has suggested that there could be an Arrow Lake Refresh in the cards for desktop, but regardless, we've just heard more about the Nova Lake flagship CPU - and how it might have more cores than previous speculation indicated.

According to well-known hardware leaker Jaykihn on X (see the above post), there will be 52 cores in total with the flagship for Nova Lake, as opposed to 48 as previous aired via the rumor mill. Jaykihn reminds us that LPe (low-power efficiency) cores will also be present with Nova Lake, for the first time ever with Intel's desktop processors.

Job displacement is one of the most common concerns surrounding the rise of artificial intelligence. AI agents in particular, as speculated by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, are the technology with the largest potential for this to occur.

A recent article published by industry experts from BCG (Boston Consulting Group) and INSEAD, shed some light on how modern companies are integrating AI co-workers into their operations. The piece introduces the term 'hybrid organization', which refers to a mixture of humans, machines, and AI coworkers within a company. This type of company is referred to as 'the next frontier': a future where operations are defined by the interactions between humans and AI.

Take-Two Interactive recently wrapped up its earnings call, where company boss Strauss Zelnick was asked about the publisher's perception of the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.

Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI, was asked if Nintendo's upcoming console, which is scheduled to get more details in early April, will get various Take-Two-published games when it finally makes its way into the hands of gamers. Zelnick responded by revealing Take-Two's perception of Nintendo's platform has shifted recently, with the CEO saying the days of Nintendo platforms being "geared at younger audiences" are now over.

Zelnick pointed to the release of Civilization 7 on the Switch and stated that in the past, Take-Two has supported the platform "when it made sense for the individual release." But, "today with Switch and potentially with Switch 2, the Switch device can support any audience." Notably, Zelnick didn't confirm any specific Take-Two title coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, but given the previous statements, from Take-Two's perspective, nothing is off the table -- begging the question, "Will GTA 6 release on the Nintendo Switch 2?"

Marvel Studios recently released the trailer for "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," and to go along with the trailer were other marketing materials, such as posters, which weren't as well received as the trailer.

The trailer for the upcoming movie has gained more than 23 million views at the time of reporting, and while reception has been generally good (based on the Like to Dislike ratio on the YouTube video), Marvel fans were quick to accuse Marvel of using artificial intelligence tools for the movie's marketing posters. The four posters that were released showcased telltale signs of being AI-generated, with hands only having four fingers, two women with the same face, floating objects, and other unnatural inconsistencies.

However, according to The Wrap, a Marvel spokesperson has told the publication that none of the posters were created using AI, which only leaves the possibility of these inconsistencies being human errors made by the artists. For those wondering, this isn't the first time Marvel has been embroiled in accusations of using AI to generate media, as AI was used to generate images shown in the opening credits of the TV miniseries "Secret Wars."

The AI landscape has been in flux since DeepSeek's R1 model shook the industry in late January. While OpenAI and Google aggressively push new AI tools and models, Apple has remained patient, a strategy that could pay off long-term.

Back in October 2024, Apple's CEO Tim Cook described the company's strategy towards AI in simple terms:

Four months later, this deliberate approach appears justified. Few could have anticipated that DeepSeek would build a competitor to OpenAI and Google on a budget of just $6 million - turning the entire market on its back. As a result, both OpenAI and Google have been forced to alter their business models and release offerings cheaper, and faster, to maintain their market share.

A team of researchers set out to answer a simple question - If an extraterrestrial civilization existed with technology similar to the level of the technology we have on Earth today, would they be able to detect Earth and the evidence of humanity on its surface? And from how far away?

The team was led by Dr. Sofia Sheikh of the SETI Institute, with collaborators from the Characterizing Atmospheric Technosignatures project and the Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center. Using a theoretical, modeling-based method, the team looked at the technosignatures emitted from Earth, such as radar emissions from observatories, and discovered the maximum distance a hypothetical civilization with technology similar to ours could detect them. What the team found was these technosignatures are detectable from up to 12,000 light-years away.

The team proposed the idea of how Earth would look to the rest of the galaxy through creating a hypothetical "mirror Earth." The team found that different forms of technosignatures have different ranges, such as atmospheric technosignatures, such as nitrogen dioxide emissions have increased in their detectability compared to a year ago, with the team finding instruments such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is capable of detecting such signatures from as far as 5.7 light-years away.

Microsoft is continuing its plan to remove the walls of exclusivity surrounding Xbox games and bring some of its best first-party titles over to competing platforms such as the PS5 and the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.

For quite some time, it has been rumored Microsoft is working on several ports for first-party Xbox titles that are destined for the PS5, and now a new article by The Verge's Tom Warren details PS5 ports for Halo, Gears of War and Microsoft's Flight Simulator. It was only last week Microsoft confirmed Forza Horizon 5 is coming to the PS5, and it was only yesterday that Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and Age of Mythology: Retold were also confirmed to be coming to the PS5.

Notably, all three of these titles were announced via blog posts and not during a dedicated PlayStation or Xbox event, which seemingly highlights the normalcy of ports from Xbox's perspective. Warren writes he heard in June 2024 that Age of Empires and Age of Mythology were both coming to the PS5 and at the same time that Microsoft was currently "working on some form of a Halo: Combat Evolved remaster that [was] also being considered for rival consoles." The rumor of the Age games coming to PS5 ended up being true, which leaves us with Halo.

In mid-January, Google's CEO Sundar Pichai publicly declared that his goal for 2025 was to achieve 500 million Gemini AI users. In the battle for users and downloads, OpenAI and Google are taking their AI models to the biggest stage in advertising: the Super Bowl.

In a Thursday blog post, Google revealed its marketing plans for the big game, sharing with users their creative ads 'Dream Job' and 'Party Blitz'. In Dream Job, a father prepares for his upcoming job interview with the help of Gemini Live on his Pixel. In Party Blitz, a man prompts the assistance of Gemini to help him pretend that he understands football to impress his friends.

Google's campaign comes in a bid to showcase the Google Pixel 9, which was released in August 2024. More importantly, the ads aim to showcase AI applications to a wider audience.

NASA has confirmed its Mars rover has discovered a Martian sample unlike any other the rover has found throughout its travels across the plains of the Red Planet.

The Mars rover named Perseverance is making its way out of the Jezero Crater, which it landed in with the now-deceased Mars helicopter in 2021. Perseverance has been exploring the Jezero Crater in search of evidence of ancient microbial life. Part of its mission is to collect samples of the Martian environment, which will eventually be sent back to Earth for scientific analysis. NASA recently announced Perseverance has stumbled across and now collected a sample that is unlike any other it has collected before.

According to the space agency, the new "one-of-a-kind treasure" is a 1.1-inch rock sample collected from an area called "Silver Mountain". NASA wrote on the official Perseverance X account the rock sample has "textures, unlike anything we've seen before." According to NASA, the rocks in the area Perseverance is exploring are of great scientific interest as they have the possibility of offering a peek into Mars' past. As for the exciting sample, and others like it in the area, researchers believe they have been pushed up from deep within the planet after an asteroid impact that occurred billions of years ago.

The world's most powerful space telescope has captured stunning images of the minuscule objects surrounding a celestial object located approximately 450 light-years away from Earth.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has honed in on the newborn star known as Herbig Haro 30 (HH 30), which is located in the constellation Taurus. The European Space Agency (ESA) has taken to its website to detail the above photograph, which shows the young star seemingly encased in a dense cloud of dust. However, that isn't all that is present within the image. Astronomers are particularly interested in HH 30 and, by extension, these new images, as they show an example of outflowing gas from the star-forming a narrow jet.

These intense jets of gas cause shockwaves through the dust and gas that are forming a disk around the newborn star. The shockwaves heat the material surrounding the star, resulting in a luminescent glow. Astronomers are particularly interested in the evolutionary formation of these disks, as the same process is what created the solar system we are living in today.

Capcom's highly anticipated Monster Hunter Wilds is out later this month, and ahead of the launch, the developer and publisher has released a free Monster Hunter Wilds Benchmark Tool on Steam so you can see if your system is ready to go wild. The benchmark includes a couple of action-packed cinematic sequences, some simulated open-world and town exploration, and ends with the game's main characters sitting down for a meal.

As it's currently in our test rig, we decided to fire it up and see how the game performs on the brand-new MSI GeForce RTX 5080 VANGUARD SOC. After the game's beta was criticized for its performance and optimization, the Benchmark Tool running on the GeForce RTX 5080 was smooth and stutter-free. Running in 4K using the 'Ultra' graphics preset with DLSS 'Quality,' we got a respectable average frame rate of 86.74 FPS.

Interestingly, as the game's ray-tracing option only covers reflections, enabling RT on the highest preset saw the overall performance drop to 79.58 FPS - an 8% reduction. However, with Frame Generation enabled, this increased to an average frame rate of 116.97 FPS. Of course, the GeForce RTX 5080 is one of the planet's most powerful 4K gaming GPUs, so getting decent 4K performance is expected.