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New Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi revealed, DBZ expected to hit $1bn this year

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 6, 2023 1:31 PM CST

Bandai Namco and Toei Animation make a surprise announcement that has ignited Saiyan fans everywhere.

New Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi revealed, DBZ expected to hit $1bn this year

It's official: Budokai Tenkaichi is coming back after 16 years. Bandai Namco made the announcement at the most recent Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour esports tournament at the World Market Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The short teaser confirmed a new Budokai Tenkaichi game is currently in development, and also revealed that Dragon Ball Super will be a big part of the next game.

Budokai Tenkaichi 4's teaser reel showed a brief history of the series and then finished off with an explosive reveal of Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Goku in all of his teal-haired glory. Not a whole lot was revealed about the game and there's still much we don't know, but for now Bandai Namco has announced a new game and cautioned viewers that the "footage shown is under development."

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Continue reading: New Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi revealed, DBZ expected to hit $1bn this year (full post)

Microsoft evicts Bing AI chatbot from the Windows 11 taskbar

Darren Allan | Software & Apps | Mar 6, 2023 12:45 PM CST

Windows 11's recent big update, less than a week ago, brought the Bing chatbot to the taskbar - but the AI has just been unceremoniously ejected from the interface (at least for the time being).

Microsoft evicts Bing AI chatbot from the Windows 11 taskbar

Microsoft removed the ChatGPT-powered AI without any notification or reason why the chatbot was given its marching orders, as MS Power User observed.

So, we're left scratching our heads a bit about what has happened here. Although it was something of a surprise to see Bing appear at the foot of the Windows 11 desktop in the first place, given that it wasn't tested in preview first.

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Continue reading: Microsoft evicts Bing AI chatbot from the Windows 11 taskbar (full post)

Final Fantasy XVI's exclusivity deal gave direct access to PS5 engineers

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 6, 2023 12:02 PM CST

Square Enix's Yoshi-P gives a candid explanation on why the publisher has signed exclusivity deals to bring certain Final Fantasy games to PlayStation first.

Final Fantasy XVI's exclusivity deal gave direct access to PS5 engineers

Gamers everywhere know that PlayStation is at the top of gaming's Big 3 in terms of both revenues and installed base. Publishers must respect Sony's position and offer their games on PlayStation in agreeable terms and contracts that benefit both parties. That's why we've seen Square Enix, a Japanese games publisher, focus more intently on PlayStation.

Final Fantasy XVI is yet another example of such a deal. Square Enix signed a six-month exclusivity deal for Final Fantasy XVI on PlayStation platforms for this reason and another that may get looked over. The deal with Sony gives Square Enix direct access to PlayStation 5 console engineers that can significantly help the developers optimize their game on PS5. The result is what looks to be a stunning spectacle of console power that may flex the PS5's overall performance and gameplay capabilities.

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Continue reading: Final Fantasy XVI's exclusivity deal gave direct access to PS5 engineers (full post)

This new 3D printer is a chocoholic's dream

Darren Allan | Cameras, Printers & Scanners | Mar 6, 2023 9:31 AM CST

The Cocoa Press is a 3D printer with a distinct difference - it produces models made from chocolate so that you can sculpt all kinds of weird and wonderful edible forms of the stuff.

This new 3D printer is a chocoholic's dream

This 3D Printer was created by Ellie Weinstein and is readying for pre-orders next month (on April 17th).

The idea is you can fashion chocolates in all sorts of nifty shapes with different textures, the kind of chocs that you'd usually only get at high-end places (chocolatiers) and for a stupidly pricey outlay, probably.

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Continue reading: This new 3D printer is a chocoholic's dream (full post)

Analysis: Will Square Enix's new president make more deals with Xbox?

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 6, 2023 9:00 AM CST

Square Enix's new management offers fresh opportunities to reach a wider global audience with the Xbox brand.

Analysis: Will Square Enix's new president make more deals with Xbox?

Japanese publisher Square Enix has lofty ambitions in expanding its games to a global audience, however it seems that its exclusivity deals are getting in the way of this plan. Now that Square Enix is about the get a new president, the company could make a turn around and start to work closely with platform-holders like Microsoft to bring more of its games to Xbox and better execute on this plan.

It's clear that Square Enix isn't where it wants to be right now. The company isn't in dire straits and is still pulling in respectable revenues, however we've seen Square Enix take drastic measures to counter rising costs and diminishing returns. The first major shock came when the publisher sold its entire Western games division to Embracer Group for $300 million, including heavy-hitting IPs like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex. The sale was a reaction to the commercial failure of two of its most expensive games, Marvel's Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, which lost an estimated $200 million.

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Continue reading: Analysis: Will Square Enix's new president make more deals with Xbox? (full post)

NVIDIA GPU driver bug can slow down your CPU

Darren Allan | Graphics Cards | Mar 6, 2023 7:49 AM CST

NVIDIA has confirmed a bug in its latest graphics driver which spikes processor usage by an unfortunate amount, potentially slowing down your PC a fair bit.

NVIDIA GPU driver bug can slow down your CPU

Tom Warren (of The Verge) flagged this on Twitter (see the above tweet), noting that GeForce driver version 531.18 pushes up CPU usage by 10% or more after closing some games.

NVIDIA tells us that one of the known issues with v531.18 is: "Higher CPU usage from NVIDIA Container might be observed after exiting a game."

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Continue reading: NVIDIA GPU driver bug can slow down your CPU (full post)

Elon Musk pays out BBC for report saying Twitter can't protect users from trolls

Jak Connor | Business, Financial & Legal | Mar 6, 2023 5:19 AM CST

Elon Musk has taken to his personal Twitter account to shine a light on a recent article penned in the BBC about Twitter purportedly failing to protect its users from "trolls".

Elon Musk pays out BBC for report saying Twitter can't protect users from trolls

The article titled "Twitter can't protect you from trolls anymore, insiders say" was written by Marianna Spring and claims that Twitter is no longer able to protect its users from "trolling, state-coordinated disinformation, and child sexual exploitation". The article cites Twitter insiders that spoke to the BBC as well as "exclusive academic data" as the source of the new information.

These Twitter insiders also told the publication that these purported shortcomings of Twitter only became an issue after Elon Musk took over the company in late October, laid off thousands of employees, and rolled out changes to Twitter's content policy.

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Continue reading: Elon Musk pays out BBC for report saying Twitter can't protect users from trolls (full post)

China to battle Elon Musk for low-Earth orbit with its new 'suppression' plan

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Mar 6, 2023 3:47 AM CST

A team of researchers has said that China is planning on flooding low-Earth orbit with thousands of satellites under a new project codenamed "GW".

China to battle Elon Musk for low-Earth orbit with its new 'suppression' plan

According to a team led by associate professor Xu Can with the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Space Engineering University located in Beijing, China, is planning on launching 12,992 satellites to form constellations similar to SpaceX's Starlink constellations.

China's satellites will be owned by China Satellite Network Group, and according to Xu's recent paper published in the Chinese journal Command Control and Simulation, China's new constellation is likely to be deployed before SpaceX can complete its FAA-approved 12,000 online Starlink satellites by 2027.

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Continue reading: China to battle Elon Musk for low-Earth orbit with its new 'suppression' plan (full post)

NASA space telescope images are being killed by Elon Musk's satellites

Jak Connor | Science, Space, & Robotics | Mar 6, 2023 3:01 AM CST

The emerging number of satellites entering into lower-Earth orbit is becoming an evermore prevalent issue for astronomy researchers.

NASA space telescope images are being killed by Elon Musk's satellites

A new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Astronomy on March 2, 2022, has looked at how the growing number of satellites in low-Earth orbit is impacting astronomical research, in particular, scientific work conducted by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The team found that satellites such as SpaceX's Starlink constellations are regularly photobombing Hubble's images, and the frequency of these photobombs is only growing.

The above image shows a photobombed image. The white lines streaking across the image are a result of a satellite passing from one side of the frame to the other. In some instances, the photobombing is so bad that the image cannot be used for scientific research. In other instances, organizations are having to exponentially pay for images to be fixed and other means of mitigation. The study was led by Sandor Kruk, who looked at data acquired in 2021 to acquire the overall results.

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Continue reading: NASA space telescope images are being killed by Elon Musk's satellites (full post)

Elon Musk warns of 'dangerous technology' that he may have accelerated

Jak Connor | Artificial Intelligence | Mar 6, 2023 1:08 AM CST

The emergence of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence in its various forms, has shaken up many industries around the world and has prominent figures in the tech world worried about its overall potential.

Elon Musk warns of 'dangerous technology' that he may have accelerated

One of those prominent figures is SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who has recently been taking to his personal Twitter account to discuss the potential of AI-powered systems, while also poking fun at the people that were riding the cryptocurrency hype train that has now jumped over to the AI hype train.

Musk tweeted out that he's been recently experiencing "existential angst" about AI development, which eventually led to a series of other tweets where the Tesla CEO explained that OpenAI, the company behind the now widely popular ChatGPT, has changed it direction since Musk founded it in 2015. According to Musk, OpenAI was formed to bring transparency to AI in the form of being "open source", hence Musk's decision to name the company 'OpenAI'.

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Continue reading: Elon Musk warns of 'dangerous technology' that he may have accelerated (full post)

AI-powered fighter pilot beats humans in real dogfight for the first time ever

Jak Connor | Artificial Intelligence | Mar 6, 2023 12:04 AM CST

Air combat will eventually become artificial intelligence-powered systems battling each other, or at least that's what a group of researchers has predicted.

AI-powered fighter pilot beats humans in real dogfight for the first time ever

A new report published in The South China Morning Post details a study that was recently published in the Chinese journal Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica. The study was conducted by professor Huang Juntao from the Chinese army's Aerodynamics Research and Development Center located in Sichuan, China, and explores the implementation of artificial intelligence-powered systems in a real-life dogfight situation.

The AI system competed against human fighter pilots and won the entire contest in just 90 seconds, beating every human fighter pilot it encountered. The researchers write in their study that the AI consistently out-predicted the development of the battle through its superior calculation agility, leading it to establish a distinct advantage over its opponents. The results from this study caused the researchers behind it to predict that the era of air combat will soon transfer over from humans to AI systems, and that the time of that transition is already on the horizon.

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Continue reading: AI-powered fighter pilot beats humans in real dogfight for the first time ever (full post)

AMD confirms that a rare Radeon driver bug can brick your Windows OS install

Kosta Andreadis | Graphics Cards | Mar 5, 2023 10:31 PM CST

A bug in the latest WQHL-certified Radeon drivers, Adrenalin 23.2.2, can break Windows to the point where the OS becomes corrupted and must be either restored or reinstalled entirely. This is a severe bug, though AMD notes that it's rare and can occur when the 'Factory Reset' option (that clears existing driver settings) is ticked, and you're installing the latest Radeon graphics driver while Windows is performing an update in the background.

AMD confirms that a rare Radeon driver bug can brick your Windows OS install

A perfect storm of random events, but with Windows updates happening quite frequently, reports relating to Radeon users encountering corrupted Windows installs due to this issue have been cropping up.

Brad Chacos, the Executive Editor at PCWorld, experienced the problem on the test bench he uses to benchmark GPUs. Brad said he couldn't even boot into Windows repair mode, though after extensive troubleshooting with AMD, he could fix his PC. He outlined his experience with the bug in detail, and it's well worth reading as a reminder that troubleshooting rare PC issues are always a pain.

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Continue reading: AMD confirms that a rare Radeon driver bug can brick your Windows OS install (full post)

Sabrent's new USB Type-C display adapter is a great for HDMI and DisplayPort

Kosta Andreadis | Peripherals | Mar 5, 2023 9:58 PM CST

The Sabrent USB Type-C to Dual HDMI and DisplayPort Adapter is designed for USB-C ports that support video via DP Alternate Mode. Based on its features, it sounds like the perfect accessory for laptops with USB-C video ports. With two HDMI 2.0b ports and a DisplayPort 1.4 port, it's versatile enough to support basically any display released in the last decade and opens the door to multi-screen support.

Sabrent's new USB Type-C display adapter is a great for HDMI and DisplayPort

As per the release notes, the Sabrent USB Type-C to Dual HDMI and DisplayPort Adapter supports the DP 1.4 spec of 8K at 30Hz, with the two HDMI ports supporting up to 4K at 60Hz. Naturally, when connecting multiple devices, bandwidth over full Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C 10 Gbps ports limits what you can put out display-wise - but even so, it's still impressive when you can get 4K over DisplayPort and 2K over two HDMI displays simultaneously - or, 4K 60Hz using DisplayPort and a single HDMI port.

There's even a panoramic mode via AMD Eyefinity, NVIDIA Surround, or Intel Collage. For those that use a single high-end laptop for work and play, it's something to consider.

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Continue reading: Sabrent's new USB Type-C display adapter is a great for HDMI and DisplayPort (full post)

Steam Deck now supports real-time ray-tracing in DOOM Eternal, and it's playable

Kosta Andreadis | Gaming | Mar 5, 2023 8:31 PM CST

The latest Steam Deck OS 3.4.6 Beta driver features a surprising addition, with Valve noting, "Ray-Tracing is now available in DOOM Eternal."

Steam Deck now supports real-time ray-tracing in DOOM Eternal, and it's playable

This is surprising for several reasons, with most of them being a variation of the fact that the Steam Deck is a handheld and designed to deliver optimized performance for modern games played at a lower resolution instead of running everything with Ultra settings enabled like it's a GeForce RTX 4080.

Support for DOOM Eternal's real-time ray-tracing for reflections is the first time Steam Deck users can enable the hardware-intensive but visually impressive effect on the handheld - thanks to id Software's implementation being via the Linux-friendly Vulkan API.

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Continue reading: Steam Deck now supports real-time ray-tracing in DOOM Eternal, and it's playable (full post)

Microsoft Edge VSR is another Video Super Resolution tool for upscaling videos

Kosta Andreadis | Artificial Intelligence | Mar 5, 2023 7:59 PM CST

NVIDIA recently launched the RTX Video Super Resolution update as part of its latest GeForce Game Ready driver update. In Chrome and Edge, GeForce RTX 30 and 40 Series users could enable the AI-powered upscaling tool to improve video quality when streaming at a lower resolution.

Microsoft Edge VSR is another Video Super Resolution tool for upscaling videos

Today comes news that Microsoft is adding its version of VSR (Video Super Resolution) to its Edge browser, with support for all NVIDIA GeForce RTX model GPUs (GeForce RTX 20, 30, and 40 Series with Tensor Cores) in addition to AMD Radeon RX graphics covering Radeon RX 5700 up to Radeon RX 7800. Though we assume that's a typo, it's supposed to be Radeon RX 7900.

Like RTX VSR, Microsoft's VSR is said to remove or improve compression artifacts and enhance text though it only works if the video's resolution is lower than 720p. If you're wondering why it's limited to low-res videos, Microsoft notes that one of three videos is played at 480p or lower in Edge browsers. AI also powers Microsoft's VSR with machine learning to enhance any video watched in the browser.

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Continue reading: Microsoft Edge VSR is another Video Super Resolution tool for upscaling videos (full post)

Intel's latest Game On Driver for Arc Graphics brings big gains to Halo Infinite

Kosta Andreadis | Graphics Cards | Mar 5, 2023 7:27 PM CST

Intel Graphics Driver 31.0.101.4146 is available now, offering Intel Arc Graphics support for Destiny 2: Lightfall and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Two big PC game releases that have recently dropped, and in the case of Wo Long, Intel is noting that the Intel Arc A750 graphics card can outperform NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3060 12GB at both 1080p and 1440p - via its benchmarks.

Intel's latest Game On Driver for Arc Graphics brings big gains to Halo Infinite

And we learn that Intel XeSS support (the company's DLSS AI upscaling equivalent) is coming soon to the game.

It's been impressive to see the release cadence for new Intel graphics drivers in recent weeks, especially with the company focused on fixing issues and compatibility for the Intel Arc range. Intel is living up to its promise of supporting new games - there's also Company of Heroes 3 and Like a Dragon: Ishin! support that was added recently. Intel writes, "you can always rely on Intel Arc graphics with Day-0 support."

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Continue reading: Intel's latest Game On Driver for Arc Graphics brings big gains to Halo Infinite (full post)

Original Diablo devs wanted to sell small expansion discs for $5 a piece

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 4, 2023 5:02 PM CST

The original Diablo developers at Condor had a novel idea to make money after the game released: Physical microtransactions.

Original Diablo devs wanted to sell small expansion discs for $5 a piece

While gaming has certainly evolved since the 70s and 80s, parts of the market have remained the system. Coin-op arcades were the original microtransactions and games were designed to be as hard as possible to ensure players keep pumping in quarters for another chance. The video game crash changed things and it took a while before this kind of small accruing monetization arrived on consoles, but then Bethesda introduced horse armor and gave rise to gaming's current billion-dollar mTX economy.

Even back in the 90s, PC developers were trying to find ways to monetize their games over time. The original Diablo devs came up with the interesting idea to sell small "expansion discs" that would contain little extras like armor, weapons, and even new environmental effects. The idea was to sell off small pieces of the game for $5 a piece--kind of like a physical microtransaction.

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Continue reading: Original Diablo devs wanted to sell small expansion discs for $5 a piece (full post)

Dead Island 2's crazy combos cause catastrophic chaos

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 4, 2023 4:05 PM CST

Deep Silver's Dambuster studio introduces yet another big reason why we should be excited about Dead Island 2.

Dead Island 2's crazy combos cause catastrophic chaos

New Dead Island 2 gameplay footage revealed a closer look at one of the game's most interesting mechanics. While the sequel preserves a lot of the features and tropes from the first two games, Dead Island 2 has a new way to augment your zombie superpowers that offers lots of customization.

The game will use skill cards to boost abilities with new modifiers. Dambuster's new system lets gamers mix and match cards to create interesting scenarios of havoc and destruction. Think of these cards as yet another way to execute devastating combos in addition to the weapons, gadgets, and environmental hazards throughout L.A.

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Continue reading: Dead Island 2's crazy combos cause catastrophic chaos (full post)

Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda to retire, investors to vote on replacement

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 4, 2023 2:24 PM CST

Following a string of unsuccessful game releases, Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda plans to retire.

Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda to retire, investors to vote on replacement

Square Enix isn't in the best shape right now. The company isn't in the red, and is still making sustainable revenues and profits, however the publisher does need a few wins to offset a string of disappointments.

A combination of commercial failures like the ill-fated Babylon's Fall with numerous titles that "failed to meet expectations" (every new Tomb Raider release, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, and the expensive Marvel games to name a few) has led to unfavorable company performance. It's estimated that Square Enix lost $200 million on Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers.

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Continue reading: Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda to retire, investors to vote on replacement (full post)

Nintendo Switch six years of success: Sales milestones, earnings, and more

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Mar 3, 2023 3:33 PM CST

Today the Nintendo Switch turned six years old. To celebrate, we'll be taking a closer look at the platform's megaton success on the games market and how the Switch lays out the future of the Mario-maker.

Nintendo Switch six years of success: Sales milestones, earnings, and more

Six years ago on March 3, 2017, Nintendo changed the entire games industry by releasing its innovative new Switch system. Everything that Nintendo has done in the past has led up to the Switch; the system combines both of Nintendo's best-selling form factors into one handheld-console hybrid. The Switch skyrocketed to success from the get-go, propelling Nintendo's business to new modern day highs.

The Switch shows no signs of slowing down. The platform has generated incredible amounts of hardware and software sales while also invigorating Nintendo's business with its first-ever subscription service. Nintendo has used the Switch to push its business towards a digital market while keeping things steady, controlled, and measurable by the company.

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Continue reading: Nintendo Switch six years of success: Sales milestones, earnings, and more (full post)

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