Enlarge (credit: ony Avelar/Bloomberg)

Though Intel’s share of the estimated $100 million award wasn’t disclosed, it is certain to boost Intel’s fledgling Foundry Services division that was announced in March as a part of the company’s IDM 2.0 strategy. The company will be working alongside IBM and electronic design automation companies Cadence and Synopsys. The program, known as “Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes—Commercial or RAMP-C,” seeks to expand the Pentagon’s access to trusted, secure, and reliable chips from sub-7 nm process technology.

“One of the most profound lessons of the past year is the strategic importance of semiconductors and the value to the United States of having a strong domestic semiconductor industry,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said. “When we launched Intel Foundry Services earlier this year, we were excited to have the opportunity to make our capabilities available to a wider range of partners, including in the US government, and it is great to see that potential being fulfilled through programs like RAMP-C.”

Enlarge / New ISO files make it easier to do clean installs of the Windows 11 preview (and to see its first-time setup screens). (credit: Microsoft)

When Microsoft released the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview builds to Dev and Beta channel testers late last week, the company also posted traditional ISO files of the new operating system for download for the first time. These ISO files can be burned to a disc or copied to a USB drive, making it faster to install Windows 11 to multiple PCs (or just to do a clean install on a single PC).

Previously, it was possible to do a clean install of Windows 11 by using tools that convert Insider builds to ISOs, or by installing one of the Insider Preview builds through Windows Update and then resetting your PC. These new official ISOs can save you those steps, even though they’re based on preview builds that will already need to be updated right after you set them up (the ISOs are based on build 22000.132, while both Dev and Beta channels have already moved on to 22000.160). Microsoft offers ISOs for both the Dev and Beta channels—you can switch between channels as you normally would once Windows is up and running, but the ISO you use determines which channel your PC is automatically signed up for.

As with other Insider Preview builds, the version of the WinPE preinstall environment that you boot to use these ISOs will not enforce Windows 11’s processor requirement but will enforce the Secure Boot and TPM requirements (for now, having any version of TPM seems to satisfy the installer, though Microsoft says you’ll need a TPM 2.0 module for the final version). And as when installing the Windows 11 Insider builds from within Windows 10, you can use a handful of registry tweaks to disable those checks, at least for now.

An unannounced PlayStation 5 hardware revision, first noticed in Australia by Press Start, brings two changes to Sony’s console. First, the new model, CFI-1102A, runs 0.6 pounds lighter compared to the original console, although Sony has given no indication about what has changed. Back in May, reports emerged that a new wireless module was planned, and that’s likely what is inside these tweaked consoles. The update applies to both the digital and disc versions.

Secondly, and most importantly, there’s a new screw for the console’s annoying and required base/stand. While the screw isn’t necessary when the system is placed in a horizontal position (there’s a small compartment to store the screw), anyone setting up a PS5 vertically needs the screw to keep the stand stable. The revised screw can be tightened by hand thanks to a new grip around the head. While that doesn’t make aligning the base/stand any easier, you no longer need a screwdriver to do the operation.

The console, which has been plagued by a scalper market since launch, remains in short supply. A quick glance at eBay auctions shows new PS5s still consistently running near $700–$900, well over the $400–$500 MSRP, depending on edition. Apps like StockInformer can alert those who are still trying to track one down, minus the reseller premium.

The device features work by artist Makoto Kano, programmer Hiroshi Momose, and sound engineer Naoto Ishida. It’s unknown how many Yokoi produced. John Hardie, director at the National Video Game Museum in Frisco, Texas, speculated with Ars, saying, “Were there just three made (one for each of them) or [was] it a limited thing Nintendo made and sold/gave away? Maybe there’s 50 of them? Maybe Nintendo has a pallet in their warehouse. It’s just hard to know since there’s very little information. If I had to guess, I would say there were more than three made, but again, just a guess.”

Even if 50 were made, $9,000 for such a rare piece of Nintendo memorabilia, especially given the recent million-dollar Zelda and Super Mario 64 video game auctions, remains cheap. Hardie wasn’t surprised by the price given the current state of the collector’s market, but he did note, “We at the museum would have paid that,” and sadly, the NVM does not have one in their otherwise sizable collection.

Enlarge / Empty Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine vials (credit: AHMAD GHARABLI)

The Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which will now be marketed as Comirnaty (koe-mir’-na-tee), the agency announced Monday.

The vaccine’s full approval—or Biologics License Application (BLA)—applies for use of a two-dose regimen, given three weeks apart, in people ages 16 years and older. It is the first BLA to be issued for a vaccine against COVID-19. The vaccine will still be available under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for adolescents ages 12 to 15 and for use as a third booster dose in certain people with compromised immune systems.

The name Comirnaty—already in use elsewhere, including Europe—is a mash-up of “COVID-19 immunity” and “mRNA” that is meant to evoke the word “community.”

Enlarge / Anti-Satellite Weapons from Mission Shakti are displayed during Republic Day Parade on January 26, 2020 in New Delhi, India. (credit: Ramesh Pathania/Mint via Getty Images)

US military officials are debating whether to publicly demonstrate a new space weapon capability, according to the online publication Breaking Defense.

Senior military leaders, including Gen. John Hyten, the vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, have been discussing for more than a year whether to reveal a secret space weapon by providing a demonstration of its capabilities, the report says. The weapon system, the details of which remain obscure, was developed as a “Special Access Program,” which is reserved for highly classified information.

The Trump administration considered revealing the space weapon as early as the annual Space Symposium conference in 2020, a prestigious event for the national defense community. The idea was to showcase the technology as a validation of the Space Force and Space Command, which is responsible for military operations in outer space. However, the conference was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2013’s Aliens: Colonial Marines was arguably the last huge video game to focus on the “Aliens with an S” side of all things xenomorphic. Between flashy trailers and Gearbox’s reputation at the time, series fans got their hopes up that the 1986 James Cameron film would finally inspire a modern shooter worth a loud oorah. Not so much.

This week, the letter S returns to PCs and game consoles with far lower expectations in the form of Aliens: Fireteam Elite. And I gotta say, this three-player co-op romp’s success makes me angry about Colonial Marines all over again.While losing hours to this new game’s faithful, no-frills fun, I imagined Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford sitting next to me. Between missions, I would ask him why his development teams couldn’t surpass a little-known indie studio’s slimmed-down excuse to rev up machine guns and flamethrowers with friends.

Still, a genuinely fun Aliens game is better late than never. And this is much better.

• 

  Raz is back in the long-awaited sequel Psychonauts 2. [credit:
  Double Fine / Xbox Game Studios
  ]

Psychonauts 2 is the imperfect, astounding, hilarious, memorable, beautiful, long, drama-filled interactive cartoon for anyone who yearns for a certain era of 3D-gaming nostalgia. If that sounds like you, play this new game-of-the-year contender as soon as possible.

Any conversation about Psychonauts 2 could start in so many other directions, but I’d rather open with that “contender for game of the year” spirit. It’s been buzzing through me the entire time I’ve spent inside Psychonauts 2‘s minds-within-minds.

That doesn’t mean it’ll be everyone’s ideal platformer. Psychonauts 2 doesn’t unseat the classic Banjo-Kazooie series in terms of level complexity and mechanical balance, for instance. And while this sequel massively improves upon the original game’s control suite, it errs on the side of simplicity. Yet, whether you want a breezy, kid-friendly platformer bathed in incredible artistic direction, or if you’re more eager to double-jump and speed-bounce to a 3D level’s tastefully hidden secrets, Psychonauts 2 scales to your expectations—and it delivers for anyone who’s playing or watching.

Context, from commercial dud to crowdfunded return

If you’ve never heard of Psychonauts, you’re not alone. The 2005 original arrived on PlayStation 2 and Xbox with loud nods to the game industry’s best 3D platformers. Sadly, that year’s console marketplace was much more interested in shooters like Halo than a subversive, whimsical summer camp full of kids with psychic powers. The result was a commercial failure, critical darling. (As a point of trivia: the project’s prerelease woes nearly doomed the game before launch until SimCity creator Will Wright invested his own cash to save it.)