Latest News - Page 633

Varda Space Industries, a company whose goal is to cook real life-saving drugs in space, has posted the results from its first in-orbit manufacturing stint.

The goal of the company was to autonomously manufacture pharmaceuticals in microgravity or within Earth's orbit. The idea behind this process is to reduce the cost of life-saving drugs, and according to a recent paper published on a pre-print server, Varda Space is now one step closer to achieving it. The company dubbed the mission W-1, and it included sending Varda's hardware into Earth's orbit, where it would then autonomously manufacture the therapeutics.

Varda Space sent a capsule into Earth's orbit, and it remained there for seven months. When it returned back to Earth's surface on February 21, the capsule contained the life-saving HIV/AIDS medication ritonavir. According to Varda Space cofounder Delian Asparouhov, "Them space drugs cooked real good". Notably, manufacturing pharmaceuticals in microgravity has been explored before with astronauts aboard the International Space Station and other testing via parabolic flights.

Acer teased the release of a new 49-inch OLED gaming monitor back in December, which has seemingly flown under the radar of many publications - so here it is!

After doing a quick Google search for the Predator X49 X, I noticed that there wasn't any news regarding the monitor that was officially teased by Acer back in December. So, what is the Predator X49 X? DisplaySpecifications has provided a short list of what the Predator X49 X will provide gamers when it comes to specs, and to kick things off, this 49-inch display rocks a Samsung QD-OLED panel, presumably the third-generation panel that comes with significant text fringing improvements.

Additionally, the Predator X49 X features a super ultra-wide resolution of 5120 x 1440p, an 1800R curvature, 250 nits of typical brightness, 1,000 nits peak brightness, HDR10, DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification, a super quick response time of 0.03ms, a 240Hz refresh rate, AMD FreeSync certification, and two 5w speakers. As for connectivity, buyers can expect 2x HDMI 2.1 inputs, 1x DisplayPort 1.4 input, 1x USB-C port with 90W power delivery, 2x USB-A ports, 1x USB-B port, and a headphone hack.

With a maximum transfer speed of 2,000 MB/s, TEAMGROUP's new CinemaPr P31 Portable External SSD is designed for professional photographers and videographers - with the ability to record directly to the drive when connected to a compatible DSLR camera or smartphone. It's the first product in TEAMGROUP's T-CREATE CinemaPr series of products for creators.

According to the announcement, the CinemaPr P31 Portable External SSD was "designed specifically for filming," with 4TB capacity models able to store roughly 400 minutes (under 7 hours) of raw 8K video files. Of course, you can store Full HD, 4K, and even 6K on the CinemaPr P31 Portable External SSD - which is also compatible with iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max for recording.

Naturally, this means the new SSD is designed for portability and durability, with a lightweight 97-gram aluminum alloy build that is IP67 waterproof and dustproof certified. TEAMGROUP's patented graphene cooling handles cooling.

Facial recognition has been around for a while, with Windows Hello employing the tech so you can log into a Windows 11 device by simply looking at your webcam. This technology also exists in smartphones, surveillance, and security - AI also plays a role in how facial recognition technologies are trained and used.

According to a new patent (seen by Windows Report), Microsoft plans to integrate facial recognition technology with Windows 11 and OneDrive image search functionality. It will use facial recognition to review photos, determine the number of people shown and their identities, and then rank them accordingly.

If you're wondering where a patent fits into the picture, well, faces "determined to be friends or family" will be ranked higher than groups of fewer friends and family - so it's all about using the tech in a detailed searching tool.

According to rumors, Intel's second generation of discrete graphics cards for desktops, codenamed Battlemage, is on track for release sometime in the second half of 2024. The first generation of Alchemist Arc graphics has come a long way since its 2022 debut, partly thanks to Intel's continued driver updates and software support. Arc GPUs have gone from products you wouldn't recommend to impressive and affordable mainstream gaming options.

With shipping manifest leaks (via @momomo_us on X) confirming the existence of two Battlemage GPUs - Battlemage G10 and Battlemage G21 - it's widely accepted that G10 will be targeting the mainstream and mid-range PC gaming market, with G21 being the mainstream or entry-level replacement for current Arc models like the A750 and A770.

With this latest update and last week's SiSoft Sandra database surprise appearance from Battlemage "Xe2-HPG," it looks like the silicon is now in the hands of Intel partners - pointing to a launch sooner rather than later. Intel has yet to formally announce Battlemage or provide details on what to expect hardware and performance-wise, but we know quite a bit based on the information out there.

Is 2024 the year for sensible GPU prices? According to how things have been tracking over the past few months, we could be on the cusp of serious competition in the mid to high-end discrete GPU market for PC gaming. Of course, playing devil's advocate, you could say that recent price cuts could be chalked up to the fact that we're now in the second half or tail end of AMD and NVIDIA's current GPU generation lifecycle.

Either way, you can get a PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB GPU for $889.99 USD (after entering a promo code) at Newegg. This exceptional deal sees AMD's RDNA 3 flagship drop below the $900 barrier for the first time (that we can recall), and it offers a sizeable 11% discount from the $999 MSRP.

The Radeon RX 7900 XTX hasn't had an official price drop since launching in December 2022; however, its lower-tier sibling, the Radeon RX 7900 XT, recently saw its price officially drop to $749. With several Radeon RX 7900 XTX models currently available for less than the $999 MSRP, we wouldn't be surprised if the RDNA 3 flagship gets an official price cut soon.

NVIDIA recently launched the beta for its AI-powered ChatRTX app, a generative AI chatbot that runs locally on GeForce RTX 30 and RTX 40 Series hardware with at least 8GB of VRAM. With ChatRTX, being able to run AI locally versus in the cloud is a smart move, as Tensor-RT LLM optimizations and GPU AI acceleration are a big part of NVIDIA's entire lineup.

If you're an early adopter of ChatRTX, you should probably update to the latest March 2024 build. The UI contained a couple of 'Medium' and 'High' severity security vulnerabilities. According to the security bulletin, the more dangerous of the two (given an 8.2 rating) lets potential attackers gain access to system files. This exploit could lead to an "escalation of privileges, information disclosure, and data tampering."

The second security vulnerability, rated 6.5) doesn't sound much better. The exploit allows attackers to run "malicious scripts in users' browsers," which can cause denial of service, information disclosure, and even code execution.

A seismic shift just happened: NVIDIA, the powerhouse behind the most advanced GPUs, has officially acquired the Xbox brand from Microsoft. This seismic shift in the gaming industry could redefine console gaming as we know it, promising a future where graphics and AI blend seamlessly to deliver unprecedented gaming experiences.

Poised to revolutionize the market, NVIDIA's announcement has left the gaming community in awe. The company has not only promised to integrate its cutting-edge dual GPU technology recently teased with the new Blackwell B200 AI GPUs featuring a dual-chiplet design into the next-gen Xbox console but also to leverage next-generation AI and ray tracing capabilities. This bold move is seen as a direct challenge to Sony's dominance, with the upcoming PlayStation 6 console now squarely in NVIDIA's sights.

Reveling in the shockwaves of this news, enthusiasts and experts alike are speculating on the potential of NVIDIA's hardware prowess to transform the Xbox into a console unlike any other. The inclusion of dual GPUs promises a leap in visual fidelity and gaming performance, setting the stage for an epic showdown with Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro.

Ahead of the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 kicking off, the tournament organizers announced that players this year would be playing on rigs with AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPUs and GeForce RTX 4080 GPUs for "superior gaming performance." Usually, having a GeForce RTX 4080 powered rig is a big plus for competitive Counter-Strike 2, as you're looking at one of the most powerful GPUs on the market that can easily push CS2 performance into triple-digit territory.

But what happens if the GPU driver crashes during a match and your team loses a round, knocking you out of a tournament with a $1,250,000 USD prize pool? Not much, as a Virtus Pro player experienced "a technical malfunction due to an NVIDIA driver crash, resulting in a game crash" and subsequent loss during the second round of a best-of-three showdown.

Virtus Pro lost the round (strangely, there was no do-over) and the subsequent tie-break match-up. It might be a stretch to say that this single issue cost the team its chance to win part of the $1.25 million prize pool, but it shows that even the most trusted hardware and software can still fail.

Game developers are still vastly superior to the capabilities of artificial intelligence and it might be a long time before AI can close the canyon-sized gulf, CD Projekt quest designer Pawel Sasko says.

Generative AI might radically disrupt the artistic world, and has particularly dire implications for game developers. The creators of this new AI tech claim that it can empower developers, but at the same time, these technologies are indeed able to create real-time sequences that could eventually put people out of a job. Things like conversation flow and quests can be entire AI-generated.

Right now, AI tech like Convai's tech or NVIDIA's Covert Protocol demo hasn't matured enough to be entirely convincing. In other words, the artifice still has a long way to go before we think it's real on a consumer level. But what do game developers think about this kind of generative AI? You know, the people that spend years creating realistic 3D animations for billion-dollar products?

Lucrative multi-million funding deals are few and far between these day, and indie devs are reportedly having a tough time securing exclusivity contracts with the Epic Store or Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription.

No one wants to fund a game right now--or at least that's what you might believe. The games industry is currently going through a big course correction that's led to many thousands of layoffs and intense budget cutting at top firms. Games companies have clearly chosen to serve capital instead of labor as the market contracts against multiple stress points.

Before recent events, indie devs could potentially sign a deal with the Epic Store to help fund their projects, or at the very least, break even.New reports indicate that the doors are closing on these opportunities. PC Gamer spoke with two prominent indie developers--Casey Yano from Slay the Spider studio Mega Crit, and Red Hook Studios' Chris Bourassa, who directed Darkest Dungeon--about the topic.

Warzone Mobile has been on the market for over a week now, but the mobile battle royale hints that Call of Duty may have hit a wall when it comes to on-the-go gaming.

Warzone Mobile launched on March 21 and has generated around $1.4 million in its first four days on the market, new data from Pocket Gamer indicates.

That's a significant 67% reduction from its predecessor. Call of Duty Mobile, which released to a very different pre-COVID 19 market in October 2019, made $4.2 million in its first four days. Warzone Mobile made $2.8 million less than COD Mobile did in the same comparative period.

Take-Two Interactive expects to make $8 billion by March 2025, but the recent Gearbox acquisition could shake up the publisher's plans.

A bit ago, Take-Two published an incredible release cadence and revenue forecast. TTWO announced that it plans to release over 50 games by March 2026 across all genres and platforms. Emboldened by the confidence of this slate, the company made an eye-opening $8 billion revenue target for Fiscal Year 2025, with the next year's forecast being set even higher. This led everyone to believe GTA 6 would release in FY25 or FY26 and that's indeed the plan - Rockstar Games has set a nebulous "2025" target for the game.

These forecasts are now outdated and don't reflect the sizable acquisition that Take-Two just made, having recently purchased Gearbox Entertainment for a cool $460 million in stock. Gaining control of Gearbox and its best-selling Borderlands IP will undoubtedly boost Take-Two's earnings, which could affect those ambitious revenue targets for FY25 and FY26.

Take-Two Interactive has made an offer to buy Gearbox Entertainment for $460 million, and the Embracer Group has accepted the deal.

It's official: Gearbox has a new home. Take-Two Interactive will buy Gearbox for $460 million in stock, the company has announced. Embracer Group had purchased Gearbox for $363 million, with $1 billion worth of bonuses being triggered if certain conditions were met over a period of time (they weren't). Based on the original deal terms, it looks like Embracer actually made a profit from the Gearbox sale.*

Gearbox Entertainment in its entirety is included as part of the deal, and Take-Two will now wholly own the Borderlands, Tiny Tina, and Duke Nukem franchises, along with any IPs that Gearbox owns.

Xbox may not have grown as fast as Microsoft hoped it would, but the business is indeed a profitable and evolving segment within the tech giant.

Over the past few years, Xbox's profitability has come into question. Just how profitable is it to release first-party games onto Xbox Game Pass? How much does cannibalization eat into potential game sales? Xbox is the only member of the big 3 that does not publish profits, which is because gaming is not its own segment--Xbox is part of the Microsoft's More Personal Computing segment, which also includes Windows so it's almost impossible to separate out Xbox profits.

The FTC v Microsoft federal trial also highlighted Xbox's shortcomings when it comes to growth. It's true that Xbox has missed Xbox Game Pass subscriber targets (missed by 44% in 2022) and overall gaming revenue targets (missed by $780 million in 2023), but the games division is still profitable. And, according to Phil Spencer, Xbox is also growing.

One analyst speculates that CD Projekt might want to release two new games by 2027, and the company's pipeline update offers clues on which game could launch first.

The Witcher 4 could be out by 2026, with Sirius, a new singleplayer-multiplayer Witcher game from The Molasses Flood, coming out sometime in 2027. That's what JP Morgan analyst Alexey Philippov asked CD Projekt management in a recent investor's call.

"I have a few questions; the first one is on your incentive program - basically, your new KPIs for the next stage of the incentive program. I think they imply you plan to release one game in 2026 and another game in 2027 - maybe you can comment on whether that's a fair assessment of your plans," Philippov said, as per the transcript.

Huge profit spikes help boost CD Projekt's reserves, giving the company a hefty $326 million stash to fund its myriad new projects.

CD Projekt Group's 2023 financials show interesting results. Cash and cash equivalents are up 20% year-over-year to 1.3 billion PLN, or about $326 million, and its this cache that will help fuel new game development. Breakout success with game sales fueled this jump in profits, with Cyberpunk 2077 reaching 25 million sales and the total franchise generating $750 million in full game sales since 2020.

"The Group's net profit for 2023 was over 480 million PLN (about $120 million), nearly 40% higher than the year before," said CD Projekt Chief Financial Officer Piotr Nielubowicz.

With Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty shipped, most of CD Projekt RED is now focusing on the next big Witcher sequel.

The Witcher 4 now has over 400 developers working on the project, and the game is on track to enter full production this year. Polaris will be the first to enter principal development, with other projects like Sirius from The Molasses Flood opening parallel development alongside Polaris.

"The Polaris team has grown to over 400 developers, reaching its target size for entering the production phase," said CD Projekt joint CEO Michal Nowakowski.

To get the PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced badge, developers will have to leverage the console's new GPU and PSSR upscaling tech to boost FPS and/or resolution.

Game developers will have to do some work re-tooling their games for Sony's new PlayStation 5 Pro console. Insider Gaming has more PS5 Pro details straight from the developer's portal, revealing the kinds of bonus upgrades that Sony wants developers to target on the new device.

According to the report, the PS5 Pro will have a "Trinity Enhanced" mode that is capable of boosting/tightening frame rates and max resolution. In the documentation, Sony says that ideally devs will use the PS5 Pro to deliver upscaled 4K resolution with PSSR, a steady 60FPS, and raytracing--all at once.

When Apple announced the Apple Vision Pro during the WWDC event in June last year one of the big features it showed off was the spatial video feature that allows people to capture videos and then watch them in 3D on the headset. Later in September, it was confirmed that the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max would be able to capture the videos, as well as the headset itself. However, there was a limitation.

Apple's Camera app does indeed support capturing spatial videos but only at 1080p and 30fps. The limitation was a disappointing one, and with the videos only playing in standard 2D on everything other than the Apple Vision Pro it led some to have to choose which videos to capture in 3D and which to record in the standard 2D but a higher resolution and frame rate. Now, that decision is easier.

The Spatialify app was already capable of recording spatial videos like the official Camera app, but now it's gained additional functionality with a version 1.3 update.