The world of ants is a mysterious one, as we’re still learning new stuff about the most populous insect on Earth. Soon we’ll be able to get a more hands-on approach with everyone’s favorite picnic-ruiners, thanks to the forthcoming insect sim Empire of the Ants. The game’s based on the hit sci-fi book series and has you controlling a heroic ant to protect your massive colony.

Publisher Microids and developer Tower Five just dropped a trailer and these are perhaps the most photorealistic ants ever seen in a video game. As a matter of fact, the whole trailer’s teeming with eye candy, which makes sense given the title was built using Epic Games’ powerful Unreal Engine 5. Plus it’s not just one or two ants on screen, as in-game footage shows hundreds of the little buggers doing their thing, complete with a photorealistic forest down to the pebbles and dirt on the floor.

One of the biggest unanswered questions regarding Microsoft’s $67.8 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard concerned the role of Bobby Kotick at the company. Now that the deal is finally complete and the publisher is officially a part of Microsoft, the future of the Activision Blizzard CEO is a little clearer.

In a memo to employees, Kotick wrote that he is “fully committed to helping with the transition.” He’ll remain at the helm “through the end of 2023” and he’ll report to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. “We both look forward to working together on a smooth integration for our teams and players,” Kotick wrote.

Kotick is widely expected to step down from the role he has held for over three decades as soon as January 1, though Activision Blizzard has declined to confirm an exact date for his departure. In any case, his contract runs until April.

Other changes are expected at the top of Activision Blizzard. In his own memo to the publisher’s staff, Spencer wrote that “we will share more updates on our new organizational structure in the coming months.”

Kotick shaped his company into a financially successful enterprise after leading a group of investors to buy Mediagenic for a bargain-basement price in 1991. He restructured the company and restored its previous name of Activision. In 2008, following a string of successful games, acquisitions and investments, Kotick engineered a merger with the games division of Vivendi, which owned Blizzard.

However, Kotick’s stewardship of the company has long been a controversial one. As far back as 2010, Kotaku called him “the most hated man in video games,” partly because of the perception that Kotick places a heavy focus on monetizing Activision Blizzard’s games as much as possible. That’s not to mention his reported treatment of employees at his various companies.

Over the last few years, observers have been paying more attention to Activision Blizzard’s culture under Kotick. In 2021, the California Civil Rights Department, sued the company, alleging that it fostered a culture where discrimination and widespread harassment were rife. Later that year, a report by The Wall Street Journal indicated that Kotick had long been aware of sexual misconduct and assault allegations at Activision Blizzard, and that he neglected to share some of those (or details about settlements that were agreed with alleged victims) with the board.

The report led to many Activision Blizzard workers walking out and demanding Kotick’s resignation. The following year, months after Microsoft made its blockbuster bid for Activision Blizzard, the publisher’s shareholders voted to let Kotick keep his board seat.

In fact, the turmoil over Activision Blizzard’s toxic workplace culture (and resulting pressure on the company that sent its stock tumbling) was what prompted Microsoft to buy the company. Kotick had claimed that Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV delays resulted in a fall of the stock price. But workers pushed back on those assertions.

Overwatch producer Tracy Kennedy claimed in early 2022 that Kotick pushed “random projects” onto the development team. Kennedy said the team worked overtime only to see those projects canceled and that “entire teams are turning over” and blaming Kotick.

It’s not only at Activision where Kotick has spurred controversy. In 2007, the flight attendant of a private jet he was co-owner of sued him. The attendant alleged that, after she informed the plane’s other owner that the pilot had sexually harassed her, Kotick fired her. The case resulted in a $200,000 settlement for the flight attendant.

Kotick has long been one of the highest-paid CEOs in North America and he’s not exactly going to be retiring with only a nice watch to show for his time at Activision Blizzard. A report last year suggested that he stood to make $375.3 million from the sale to Microsoft. He’s also expected to receive a golden parachute payment of $14.6 million when he departs.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bobby-kotick-will-remain-activision-blizzard-ceo-until-the-end-of-2023-184419538.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Bobby Kotick will remain Activision Blizzard CEO until the end of 2023

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has blasted off and begun a six-year, 2.2-billion-mile journey to a peculiar asteroid. Astronomers have speculated that the space rock, also named Psyche, was once the partial core of a small planet in the early days of the Solar System. The seemingly iron- and nickel-rich asteroid may hold clues to the formation of planets, including our own.

On Friday, the uncrewed Psyche spacecraft lifted off at 10:19AM ET aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After successfully jettisoning its fairings and separating from the rocket, ground controllers established two-way communication. Telemetry reports indicate it made it to space in good health. The mission had faced numerous delays before finally lifting off.

Psyche (the asteroid) rotates around the sun in a belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Researchers estimate it’s made of 30 to 60 percent nickel-iron core, allowing them a rare glimpse into a (possible) planetary core. “My best guess is that it’s more than half metal based on the data that we’ve got,” Lindy Elkins-Tanton, an Arizona State University professor working as the mission’s principal investigator, told The New York Times. “We’re really going to see a kind of new object, which means that a lot of our ideas are going to be proven wrong.”

The spacecraft will take around six years to reach Psyche. At that point, NASA’s Psyche craft will orbit the asteroid for 26 months, studying it with various instruments. The craft will use cameras to get an up-close peek, a magnetometer to look for an ancient magnetic field, a gamma-ray spectrometer to detect high-energy gamma rays and neutrons and a radio antenna to map the space rock’s gravity.

“I am excited to see the treasure trove of science Psyche will unlock as NASA’s first mission to a metal world,” said Nicola Fox, a NASA Science Mission Directorate associate. “By studying asteroid Psyche, we hope to better understand our universe and our place in it, especially regarding the mysterious and impossible-to-reach metal core of our own home planet, Earth.”

The spacecraft will also test NASA’s deep space laser communications, an experimental communications method that could increase deep space bandwidth 100-fold over the current standard, radio waves. “It’s exciting to know that, in a few short weeks, Deep Space Optical Communications will begin sending data back to Earth to test this critical capability for the future of space exploration,” said Dr. Prasun Desai, Associate Administrator (Acting), STMD at NASA HQ. “The insights we learn will help us advance these innovative new technologies and, ultimately, pursue bolder goals in space.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nasas-psyche-spacecraft-embarks-on-a-six-year-journey-to-its-asteroid-namesake-183819998.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – NASA’s Psyche spacecraft embarks on a six-year journey to its asteroid namesake

We knew Netflix’s Squid Game reality show was coming sometime in November, and now we have an exact premiere date of November 22. This puts the release just in time for Thanksgiving, so you can celebrate the holiday by watching a reality show adaptation of a dystopian drama that shined a light on the brutal horrors of late-stage capitalism. Heartwarming fun!

Squid Game: The Challenge is a 10-episode series that features over 450 contestants competing in events inspired by the TV show, in addition to some brand-new challenges. There’s no bloodshed, of course, but there is a $4.56 million prize for the winner, which Netflix says is the largest reality show payout of all time.

There are also plenty of other nods to the source material here, including that terrifying “red light, green light” doll and contestant costumes straight from the show. The shot and framing choices also call to mind the dystopian drama.

It’s hard to imagine that anyone in the world was demanding a hybrid Corvette, but those crazy engineers at Chevrolet went and did it anyway. Meet the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray, but if you’re already angry at the concept, you shouldn’t be.

The hybrid drive here isn’t to raise the efficiency of perhaps America’s most iconic sports car. Oh no. It’s only here to make it faster. 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds and a quarter-mile in 10.5 fast. The electric motor up front adds 160 horsepower to the 495 that comes from the LT2 V8 in the back. Yes, it can be driven for a few miles emissions-free, but more important is how it boosts acceleration.

It helps the handling, too. The Stingray is a notorious understeerer on the track. The E-Ray does too, but give it a little throttle and that magic front electric motor pulls the nose right around and through. It’s a delight, and so is the E-Ray – a $104,295 delight. It definitely comes at a premium over the base Stingray, but those looking for the ultimate all-round, all-season ‘Vette have a new choice. Watch the video below for our full impressions.

The Biden administration has selected the recipients of its funding for the seven regional “hydrogen hubs,” or clean hydrogen producers. All regions will receive funds from a $7 billion investment made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The hubs are collectively expected to produce more than three million metric tons of clean hydrogen per year and help put the US on track to produce 50 million metric tons of clean hydrogen fuel by 2050.

The initiative is a crucial step towards achieving President Biden’s goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. But it is also expected to bolster the economy, creating thousands of jobs for the states involved in the project. Collectively, the hubs will create more than 300,000 direct jobs.

The seven hubs named include: the Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub, Appalachian Hydrogen Hub, the California Hydrogen Hub, the Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub, Heartland Hydrogen Hub, Midwest Hydrogen Hub and the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub. Some regions that applied for the hub program together through the Department of Energy will require cross-state collaboration. For example, the Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub is made up of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey.

The Biden administration said that it expects two-thirds of total project investments will be associated with green (electrolysis based) production. The hydrogen hubs are expected to eliminate 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions through its projects—which the Biden administration likens to the annual emissions of over 5.5 million gasoline-powered cars. The hubs will focus on offsetting and creating alternatives to heavy-duty transportation, chemical, steel and cement manufacturing.

This program is just one part of the Biden administration’s efforts to slow climate change and make a lasting impact on the nation’s carbon footprint. The White House has previously pushed similar initiatives, including an executive order that requires half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 to have some form of zero-emissions driving and its plans to allocate billions in funding to decarbonize the country’s power grid by 2035.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/biden-administration-announces-first-recipients-of-7-billion-hydrogen-hub-program-165640048.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Biden administration announces first recipients of billion hydrogen hub program