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Nintendo Switch platform hits $85 billion in lifetime sales revenue, 1.3 billion games sold

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Feb 6, 2025 1:32 PM CST

The Nintendo Switch platform has generated more than $85 billion in cumulative revenues, our data analysis has revealed.

Nintendo Switch platform hits $85 billion in lifetime sales revenue, 1.3 billion games sold

Nintendo's latest Q3FY25 financials gave us more numbers to add to the Switch's cumulative performance. According to the data provided by Nintendo and cataloged by us, the Switch handheld-and-console family has made $85.431 billion in total lifetime revenues from launch to Holiday 2024. This value includes total game sales, hardware, and all earnings from the Switch platform both digitally and physically.

The Switch's megaton success has been profitable for Nintendo every step of the way. The 3-console family has now sold-in more than 150 million units worldwide, making it the third best-selling video games hardware of all time.

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Continue reading: Nintendo Switch platform hits $85 billion in lifetime sales revenue, 1.3 billion games sold (full post)

Switch 2 will be priced with profitability and foreign exchange rates in mind

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Feb 6, 2025 11:28 AM CST

Nintendo's president tells investors that the Switch 2 console will be priced with consumer affordability and company profitability in mind.

Switch 2 will be priced with profitability and foreign exchange rates in mind

The original Switch was sold at a profit on day one and has maintained some level of per-unit sales profits since. Nintendo wants to replicate that success with the Switch 2. Analysts are predicting that Nintendo could produce up to 20 million consoles in year 1, but will anyone be able to afford the system?

Our data analysis shows that consumers are willing to pay more for premium hardware--in just 40 months, Nintendo shipped nearly 30 million Switch OLEDs, boosting the OLED's total hardware share to 19%. Comparatively, it took the base Switch over 90 months to achieve 92 million sales. This led us to believe the Switch 2 will release in 2025 for at least $399.

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Continue reading: Switch 2 will be priced with profitability and foreign exchange rates in mind (full post)

Nintendo confirms date for an official 'closer look' at the Switch 2

Jak Connor | Gaming | Feb 6, 2025 9:46 AM CST

Nintendo has announced when it will finally satisfy hungry fans with delicious details on the Nintendo Switch 2 -- and it's right around the corner.

Nintendo confirms date for an official 'closer look' at the Switch 2

Nintendo has taken to its website and social channels to confirm it will be hosting a Nintendo Direct on April 2nd dedicated to showcasing the Nintendo Switch 2. The event will give viewers a "closer look" at the upcoming console, which will presumably be the unveiling of its all its features, how it differentiates itself from the original Nintendo Switch, and (hopefully) a price. It was only recently that Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa spoke to investors about the price of the Switch 2, along with the expected unit shortages.

Furukawa said Nintendo has learned from the problems the company faced with the original Nintendo Switch and plans on combating scalpers and the reseller market by simply meeting the demand for the new console with an abundance of units. The upcoming Nintendo Direct is part of Nintendo's production plan as it intends to gauge the demand for the new console after the Direct is concluded. But Furukawa admits, "it will not be easy to rapidly increase production capacity."

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Continue reading: Nintendo confirms date for an official 'closer look' at the Switch 2 (full post)

Google backpedals on promise to not create AI for use in weapons and surveillance

Jak Connor | Artificial Intelligence | Feb 6, 2025 3:33 AM CST

Google has changed its internal guidelines on what it thinks is okay and not okay to design and deploy AI tools for, as the search engine has altered its AI principles.

Google backpedals on promise to not create AI for use in weapons and surveillance

The change was spotted by The Washington Post, which reports the search engine quietly made significant changes to its AI principles, which were first published in 2018. Prior to the changes, Google stated it would not "design or deploy" AI tools that were going to be used in weapons or surveillance. However, the search engine now appears to be ok with its AI being used in both of those, as the new guidelines don't feature those pledges but instead feature much more vague promises.

The new guidelines now have a section titled "responsible development and deployment," in which Google pledges to implement "appropriate human oversight, due diligence, and feedback mechanisms to align with user goals, social responsibility, and widely accepted principles of international law and human rights." Compared to the search engine's previous pledge, the new language is far broader and much more vague, especially considering how specific the previous commitment was:

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Continue reading: Google backpedals on promise to not create AI for use in weapons and surveillance (full post)

Microsoft confirms two iconic Xbox exclusive titles are coming to the PS5

Jak Connor | Gaming | Feb 6, 2025 3:02 AM CST

The rumors were true that Xbox was planning on bringing more first-party titles to the PlayStation 5, with two more iconic titles now confirmed to be transitioning.

Microsoft confirms two iconic Xbox exclusive titles are coming to the PS5

Xbox has kept to its plan of not ruling out any Xbox title as a potential candidate to be brought over to competing platforms, and as part of the company's plan, Xbox has now confirmed Age of Mythology: Retold Edition and Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition will be releasing on the PlayStation 5. For those who don't know, Age of Mythology: Retold is the recent remaster of the 2002 original, and according to the announcement, Retold will launch on the PS5 on March 4.

In celebration of the transition, a new DLC for Retold was announced that will introduce a Chinese pantheon of gods. The DLC will also launch alongside the PS5 version of the game, and those who purchase the Premium Edition will get five days of early access on PS5, meaning they can start enjoying the remaster of the classic title on February 27. As for Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition, there hasn't been an official release date announced for the PS5 version of the game, but it's slated to drop sometime in Spring 2025.

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Continue reading: Microsoft confirms two iconic Xbox exclusive titles are coming to the PS5 (full post)

Elden Ring Nightreign release date and details to be revealed on this date

Jak Connor | Gaming | Feb 6, 2025 2:34 AM CST

FromSoftware is slated to reveal more details about the highly anticipated Elden Ring Nightreign next week, according to a source familiar with the developer's plans for the title.

Elden Ring Nightreign release date and details to be revealed on this date

Insider Gaming, a reputable source for gaming-related leaks and news, has learned through an unnamed source that FromSoftware is planning on revealing the release date for Elden Ring Nightreign on February 12. According to the publication, the February 12 date will also include more details about the title, such as media previews. Moreover, Elden Ring Nightreign is undergoing a network test on February 14 - 17, which will undoubtedly lead to some of the contents of the game being leaked online.

So, it would make sense for FromSoftware to get ahead of any leaks by officially revealing more details about the game in the days before the online playtest is conducted. Furthermore, and this could simply be coincidental, rumors have suggested PlayStation could be hosting a State of Play event next week. Perhaps these are the same event?

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Continue reading: Elden Ring Nightreign release date and details to be revealed on this date (full post)

Harrison Ford shares his thoughts on AI in video games & voice acting

Ille Smolanko | Artificial Intelligence | Feb 6, 2025 2:30 AM CST

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a unique example of video games as a vehicle to revive a beloved old franchise. With a compelling story, and a stunning recreation of a young Harrison Ford, Troy Baker delivered a performance that left fans feeling they just saw a young Indy for the first time.

Harrison Ford shares his thoughts on AI in video games & voice acting

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, the beloved actor sat down to discuss his career. From his early days as a carpenter, to his latest appearance as Red Hulk in Marvel's Thunderbolts. After briefly touching on the box office performance of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ("Shit happens") he shared his thoughts regarding the video game franchise.

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Continue reading: Harrison Ford shares his thoughts on AI in video games & voice acting (full post)

Programmers once again push the limit on where DOOM can be played

Jak Connor | Gaming | Feb 6, 2025 2:01 AM CST

Over the years, it has become a growing trend to get the original DOOM game to run on as many unconventional devices as possible, with programmers in the past being able to get the iconic game to run on a pregnancy test, calculator, thermostat, an ATM, and now an Apple Lightning adapter.

Programmers once again push the limit on where DOOM can be played

YouTube channel Nylan Satan uploaded a video titled "DOOM running on Apple Lightning to HDMI dongle," which, for those that don't know, is a $50 adapter that's designed to convert Apple's Lighting male connector into a HDMI, enabling Apple devices such as an iPhone, iPad or other Lightning devices to be connected to HDMI-equipped displays. To make the signal conversion, the Lightning to HDMI dongle contains a tiny System-On-Chip (SoC), which runs a very cut-down version of iOS.

Since the SoC is designed to take a video file and convert it so it's compatible with an HDMI signal, the SoC seemingly has enough power to run DOOM. The struggle here would be gaining access to the SoC itself, as Apple, unsurprisingly, has security protections on the device. Once jailbroken, it's then possible to install DOOM on the SoC and, using the processing power of the device, output DOOM onto a display.

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Continue reading: Programmers once again push the limit on where DOOM can be played (full post)

Google releases Gemini 2.0 models: 'We kicked off the agentic era'

Ille Smolanko | Artificial Intelligence | Feb 6, 2025 1:25 AM CST

In response to Deepseek's rising competition from DeepSeek, Google has officially released its latest AI model, Gemini 2.0, The launch was announced in Google's Blog detailing the expanded availability of Gemini 2.0 models, highlighting improvements in efficiency, coding performance, AI safety, and costs.

Google releases Gemini 2.0 models: 'We kicked off the agentic era'

The new offerings include Gemini 2.0 Flash, a high-speed multi-modal model (allowing voice, text, image, and video inputs) optimized for large-scale tasks. Gemini 2.0 Pro (Experimental), Google's most powerful coding and complex reasoning model. As well as Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, a cost-efficient AI model that iterates on the previous Gemini 1.5 Flash.

The move comes in response to escalating competition from Chinese firm DeepSeek, who burst onto the scene with the market-shaking DeepSeek R1 model on January 20. Google are not the only firm to release new offerings in response to the Chinese competitor, with OpenAI quickly releasing their latest model o3-mini free of charge. Along with autonomous AI agents 'Operator' and 'Deep Research' in rapid succession.

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Continue reading: Google releases Gemini 2.0 models: 'We kicked off the agentic era' (full post)

EA reveals release window for new Battlefield game

Jak Connor | Gaming | Feb 6, 2025 1:04 AM CST

As part of EA's latest earnings report, the publisher has revealed the release window for the next Battlefield game, which comes after a slew of Battlefield-related announcements.

EA reveals release window for new Battlefield game

According to the earnings report, EA is planning on releasing the next Battlefield, presumably called Battlefield 6, during its 2026 fiscal year, which means the game could be released anywhere between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026. For those who missed the slew of recent Battlefield announcements, EA is planning on the next Battlefield being designed around community feedback under a new program called Battlefield Labs.

The new program is the largest beta testing program EA has ever entered into, with those managing to get into the program having to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) preventing them from sharing details on the game. The first aspects of the new Battlefield that the community will test are combat and physics, with the plan being to eventually get almost every aspect of the game tested by the community. The first playtests will begin in the coming weeks.

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Continue reading: EA reveals release window for new Battlefield game (full post)

China retaliates against Trump with investigation into top US tech player

Jak Connor | Business, Financial & Legal | Feb 6, 2025 12:35 AM CST

The Chinese government responded to President Trump's newly implemented import tariffs against China by launching an antitrust investigation into Google.

China retaliates against Trump with investigation into top US tech player

China has responded to the 10% tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump on imports from China, and according to reports, China has responded with a flurry of retaliation measures, with one including a new antitrust probe into Google. The new investigation is looking into whether Google has violated Chinese antitrust laws, and the investigation was announced only minutes after President Trump implemented the 10% trade tariff.

Notably, Google is quite familiar with antitrust investigation processes as the company has endured probes from the European Union, the UK, and even the US over its business practices. Additional retaliatory measures from China include the newly announced 15% import tariff on US coal and natural gas, along with a 10% tax on oil, agriculture equipment, and large-displacement automobiles.

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Unsettling levels of microplastics discovered in human brains

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Feb 6, 2025 12:01 AM CST

Microplastics are becoming more and more of a concern as researchers are discovering them in almost every facet of life, and now a new study has pointed to the presence of microplastics in... human brains.

Unsettling levels of microplastics discovered in human brains

It was only last year that researchers from the University of Mexico discovered microplastics in human testicle tissue, and now a new study published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine has revealed through sample analysis microplastics in the human brain tissue. The tissue was collected from people in 2016 and 2024, and according to the study, each of the brain samples contained microplastics and even smaller plastics called nanoplastics. Notably, the more recent samples contained 50% more plastics than the older samples.

The discovery of microplastics in the brain isn't totally new, as researchers penned a study in 2024 that detailed their presence, but this new study has looked at how microplastics can enter the brain, and according to the researchers, inhalation is a key factor. The researchers explain that when individuals inhale microplastics, which can be present in something as innocuous as indoor dust, the microplastics can travel through the nose to the olfactory bulb, a region of the brain responsible for processing smells.

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Continue reading: Unsettling levels of microplastics discovered in human brains (full post)

AMD CEO Lisa Su confirms release date for Radeon 9070 XT and RDNA 4

Kosta Andreadis | Graphics Cards | Feb 5, 2025 7:36 PM CST

As we reported earlier today, current reports and information point to a March 6, 2025, launch for AMD's next-gen RDNA 4 GPUs for PC gaming - the Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT. Multiple people at AMD, including CEO Dr. Lisa Su, have confirmed this. Su talked about the upcoming launch during AMD's recent financial earnings call.

AMD CEO Lisa Su confirms release date for Radeon 9070 XT and RDNA 4

" Our focus with this generation is to address the highest volume portion of the enthusiast gaming market with our new RDNA 4 architecture," Dr. Lisa Su said, reaffirming AMD's RDNA 4 approach that will skip the high-end enthusiast market to focus on the mainstream and mid-range market. She also added that RDNA 4 will deliver "significantly better ray tracing performance" and "AI-powered upscaling technology" for "high quality 4K gaming."

Dr. Lisa Su then confirmed that the Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT GPUs will be available for sale in early March. AMD's Consumer and Gaming Marketing lead, Frank Azor, shared this on social media with a post stating, "RDNA 4 early March."

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Continue reading: AMD CEO Lisa Su confirms release date for Radeon 9070 XT and RDNA 4 (full post)

MSI and ASUS raise the prices for all of their GeForce RTX 50 Series cards

Kosta Andreadis | Graphics Cards | Feb 5, 2025 7:04 PM CST

The GeForce RTX 50 Series launch has not gone well, and the main culprits are pricing and availability. Both the GeForce RTX 5080 and the GeForce RTX 5090 sold out immediately, with widespread reports of major retail stores only receiving single-digit quantities of the new flagship GeForce RTX 5090. Add in scalpers and word that it might take months for stock to arrive, and NVIDIA's next-gen GPU launch has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

MSI and ASUS raise the prices for all of their GeForce RTX 50 Series cards

In addition, very few MSRP GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 models made it to market, with premium OC designs commanding a price premium of up to 50% - and that's at retail. The GeForce RTX 5080's MSRP is $999, and the GeForce RTX 5090's MSRP is $1999. It's now gotten to the point where MSI has substantially increased the pricing for all of its GeForce RTX 50 Series cards.

The GeForce RTX 5080 16G VENTUS 3X was MSI's MSRP model until a day ago, with a $999 price point. Today, that price has increased to $1,139.00 - a 14% price increase. MSI's flagship RTX 5080, the GeForce RTX 5080 16G SUPRIM SOC (which we reviewed here), has seen its price rise from $1,249.99 to $1,439.99 - a 15% increase.

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Continue reading: MSI and ASUS raise the prices for all of their GeForce RTX 50 Series cards (full post)

Future AI data center capacity could require 10 gigawatts by 2025, more power used than Utah

Anthony Garreffa | Artificial Intelligence | Feb 5, 2025 5:05 PM CST

AI data centers of the future will require untold amounts of additional power capacity, with RAND Corporation predicting future AI systems might require 10GW of additional power capacity in 2025, more power capacity than the state of Utah.

Future AI data center capacity could require 10 gigawatts by 2025, more power used than Utah

RAND continues, explaining that if exponential growth in AI chip supply continues, AI data centers will require 68GW in total power capacity by 2027 -- an almost doubling of global data center power requirements from 2022, and it's getting close to California's 2022 total power capacity of 86GW.

In a new post on its website, RAND explains: "Given recent training compute growth, data centers hosting large training runs pose a particular challenge. Training could demand up to 1 GW in a single location by 2028 and 8 GW - equivalent to eight nuclear reactors - by 2030, if current training compute scaling trends persist".

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Continue reading: Future AI data center capacity could require 10 gigawatts by 2025, more power used than Utah (full post)

AMD teases Instinct AI GPU roadmap: MI350 expected in mid-2025, next-gen MI400 arrives in 2026

Anthony Garreffa | Artificial Intelligence | Feb 5, 2025 4:04 PM CST

AMD has provided an outline of its Instinct AI accelerator launch plans, with its Instinct MI350 arriving in mid-2025, while its next-gen Instinct MI400 arrives in 2026.

AMD teases Instinct AI GPU roadmap: MI350 expected in mid-2025, next-gen MI400 arrives in 2026

During its recent earnings call, the company explained it expects to generate "tens of billions" of dollars in new AI revenue through its data center business, with plans for its Instinct AI accelerator to scale up massively. AMD discussed development of its Instinct MI325X and MI350 AI accelerators, also teasing its next-gen Instinct MI400 accelerator.

AMD is pushing volume production of its next-gen MI350 AI accelerator for the middle of the year, after the world expecting it to be scheduled for 2H 2025. This is because Intel just canceled its Falcon Shores AI chip, and with AMD having more optimism for the AI market as a whole.

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Continue reading: AMD teases Instinct AI GPU roadmap: MI350 expected in mid-2025, next-gen MI400 arrives in 2026 (full post)

Apple's new M5 chip enters mass production: for iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, Vision Pro successor

Anthony Garreffa | Processors | Feb 5, 2025 3:03 PM CST

Apple has kicked off mass production of its next-gen M5 processor, which will power next-generation MacBook Pro laptops, new iPad Pros, and a Vision Pro successor.

Apple's new M5 chip enters mass production: for iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, Vision Pro successor

In a new report from ETNews, we're learning that mass production of Apple's next-gen M5 has begun, with the outlet reporting: "Apple has started mass production of the next-generation semiconductor chip 'M5'. It is a semiconductor installed in Apple's core products such as the Mac series and iPad. It is understood that Apple has introduced new process technology to enhance artificial intelligence (AI) performance".

Apple's new M5 chip will be used in 2025 models of the company's new MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro. We should expect huge improvements in Apple Intelligence, which has been a limped launch to say the least, with 9to5Mac reporting that one of the biggest upgrades to the Vision Pro successor will be the M5 processor (over the M2 chip used in the current Vision Pro).

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Continue reading: Apple's new M5 chip enters mass production: for iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, Vision Pro successor (full post)

AMD posts Q4 2024 revenue of $7.66 billion, data center revenues are up 69% from last year

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Feb 5, 2025 2:02 PM CST

AMD has reported $7.65 billion of revenue for Q4 2024, up 24% from last year, with net incoming hitting $482 million for the three-month period, which is down 28% from last year.

AMD posts Q4 2024 revenue of $7.66 billion, data center revenues are up 69% from last year

AMD had data center revenues of $3.9 billion which is up 69% from last year, thanks to the mega-success of its EPYC processors and Instinct AI accelerators, driven by the insatiable demand of AI hardware. For the year, AMD's data center segment revenue hit a record $12.6 billion, up an even more impressive 94% compared to 2024, thanks once again to EPYC and Instinct product lines.

There are now over 450 EPYC-powered platforms in the wild from major server OEMs and ODMs, including over 120 EPYC "Turin" CPU platforms into production in Q4 2024 from the likes of Cisco, Dell, HPE, Lenovo, Supermicro, and others.

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Continue reading: AMD posts Q4 2024 revenue of $7.66 billion, data center revenues are up 69% from last year (full post)

AMD's next-gen RDNA 4-based Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card launches on March 6

Anthony Garreffa | Graphics Cards | Feb 5, 2025 1:45 PM CST

AMD will reportedly launch its next-generation Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card powered by the new RDNA 4 architecture on March 6... just a month from now.

AMD's next-gen RDNA 4-based Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card launches on March 6

In a new report from our friends at Uniko's Hardware: "Today, we received the latest news that it will be available on March 6. The actual date for the public release of performance is still unknown. I have heard various dates before, including January 23 and March 23. This time the news was obtained through a reliable person (anonymous), and the official lifting of the ban may also be close to this period".

We should expect a launch event for RDNA 4 in late February, with the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 graphics cards launching March 6.

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Continue reading: AMD's next-gen RDNA 4-based Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card launches on March 6 (full post)

ASUS's next-gen ROG Strix SCAR gaming laptop with RTX 5090 Laptop GPU will cost $4299

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | Feb 5, 2025 1:01 PM CST

ASUS will be unleashing their next-gen ROG Strix SCAR gaming laptops in the weeks and months ahead, with pricing starting at $1899 ranging up to $4299 if you want that juicy GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU.

ASUS's next-gen ROG Strix SCAR gaming laptop with RTX 5090 Laptop GPU will cost $4299

Best Buy is now listing the new ASUS ROG Strix SCAR gaming laptops, where you can choose from either the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070 all in Laptop GPU form. There are Intel and AMD processor options to choose from, whether it's Intel's new Arrow Lake or AMD's new Ryzen 9000HX series CPUs.

At the flagship side of things, the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 gaming laptop features an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU, 32GB of RAM, 2TB of Gen4 SSD, and an 18-inch 2.5K 240Hz ROG Nebula HDR display. This is the best of the best in terms of laptop hardware, ready for 1600p 240FPS gaming with the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU and its 24GB of GDDR7 memory.

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Continue reading: ASUS's next-gen ROG Strix SCAR gaming laptop with RTX 5090 Laptop GPU will cost $4299 (full post)

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