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Game developers say they're working longer hours due to the pandemic
Ahead of the all-digital “GDC Summer,” the Game Developers Conference polled nearly 2,500 game developers to get a sense of COVID-19’s impact on the industry.
NASA maps show the effect of a quarantine on air pollution
"This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event," said NASA air quality researcher Fei Liu. She made that statement after NASA's Earth Observatory released maps showing a dramatic drop in air pollution in the Wuhan region. Industrial output in the region would have already been down significantly due to the Lunar New Year. However, a government quarantine designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease COVID-19 made pollution drop much more significantly and for a longer period.
Solar energy 'breakthrough' could replace fossil fuels in some industries
If solar energy is truly going to take over from fossil fuels, it needs to be hot enough for not only generating power, but replacing industrial processes outright -- and even the 1,049F of the best solar concentrator systems wouldn't cut it. Heliogen, however, may have finally cracked that barrier. The Bill Gates-backed startup has successfully concentrated solar energy at "breakthrough" temperatures above 1,832F, making it toasty enough to replace fossil fuels for industrial tasks like producing cement or steel.
Howard University and Amazon want to diversify the entertainment industry
Howard University and Amazon Studios are working together to diversify the entertainment industry. Today, they announced Howard Entertainment, a program that will give African American, Latinx and Native American students a chance to study and train alongside entertainment executives.
EPA will roll back rules on methane emissions
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to announce plans to roll back regulations on methane emissions, a major contributor to climate change. The Trump Administration is seeking to do away with Obama-era requirements, which mandated that the oil and gas industry install technology to monitor and limit natural gas leaks from infrastructure like wells, tanks and pipelines, The Wall Street Journal reports. The change could also block proposed rules that would have required the EPA to set emissions regulations on thousands of pre-existing wells and industry sites.
Commercial drones are way more popular than the FAA expected
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has unveiled its predictions for the future of drones, and the findings came as a surprise, even to the FAA itself. Non-commercial drone growth has greatly exceeded expectations, increasing by 170 percent last year, despite officials thinking that it would only grow by 44 percent. This also forced experts to race back to the drawing board and re-write its predictions for the entire industry as a result.
Vinyl record production has finally joined the modern age
When you think of manufacturing in the US, vinyl records probably isn't the first thing that springs to mind, but the industry has been chugging along as best it can. For decades, pressing plants have been using aging machines that require a complex infrastructure of piping for the steam-based heating (and cooling) mechanisms -- not to mention an engineering support team to keep them in working order. New vinyl presses just weren't being made, at least until a few years ago. Two companies emerged to fill that need. Newbilt Machinery launched around 2015 in Germany with slightly updated (cloned) versions of old presses, adding electronic controls and hydraulic power. In February 2017, Jack White's Third Man pressing plant opened in Detroit running Newbilt's manual Duplex machines. That same year, Toronto-based Viryl Technologies joined the market with its WarmTone presses. These machines weren't clones, but built fresh from the ground up including a modular construction, fully automated operation and remote machine monitoring (even from a mobile device) with its ADAPT software. Viryl's tech support can log into the system remotely to help troubleshoot any problems. Still, like Newbilt, they required a large boiler system and network of piping to support their operation. Anyone looking to start a pressing plant still faced hefty startup and maintenance costs, a difficult permit and zoning process, as well as a less-than-ideal impact on the environment.
Amazon resumes HQ expansion after Seattle tax compromise
Amazon has graciously resumed construction work in Seattle after the City Council "compromised" on a controversial tax that will see the tech giant -- that turned over $51 billion in sales during the last quarter alone -- on the hook for $11 million annually. A sum that will be used to tackle the city's homelessness issue.
Researchers create tiny robots powered only by moisture
Tiny robots that can move on their own stand to have a variety of uses in fields ranging from medicine to the military. But having to supply them with constant power is a bit of a hindrance, especially when that power poses a safety hazard -- you can't really have robots running around a human body if their batteries are at risk of exploding. However, in a new study, researchers turn to plants in order to get around this problem and the result is a tiny, inchworm-like robot that runs on humidity.
YouTube reportedly curbing musician criticism with promotion deals
YouTube has always had a rocky relationship with the music industry, and the struggle looks set to continue following reports that the video streaming service is effectively bribing artists to keep their criticisms to themselves. According to sources cited by Bloomberg, YouTube has given a number of musicians several hundred thousand dollars for promotional support, on the promise that they don't say negative things about the site.
Leaked memo says hackers may have compromised UK power plants
State-sponsored hackers have "probably compromised" the UK's energy industry. A leaked memo from the National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) identifies links "from multiple UK IP addresses to infrastructure associated with advanced state-sponsored hostile threat actors." These threats are "known to target the energy and manufacturing sectors," the document says. The memo, obtained by Motherboard and verified by a number of sources, goes on to say that as a result of these connections, "a number of industrial control system engineering and services organisations are likely to have been compromised." The NCSC has neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of the memo. However, in a statement given to the BBC it said: "We are aware of reports of malicious cyber-activity targeting the energy sector around the globe ... We are liaising with our counterparts to better understand the threat and continue to manage any risks to the UK."
Analysts predict the end of the smartphone boom
Gartner's latest research into the state of the mobile industry is a dire warning to all phone manufacturers. The financial analysis firm believes that the growth in smartphone sales will fall to a single digit, half the rate it was in 2015. It's hard to think that people buying 1.5 billion devices in a calendar year is a bad thing, but for companies who make profit on scale, it's a nightmare. Last year, LG made just 1.2 cents in profit for every phone it sold, and you need to sell a lot of phones at that cost before you can consider yourself a big deal.
Fujitsu spins out its PC and mobile divisions
Much in the same way that Sony got rid of its PC division last year, Fujitsu has announced that it'll do the same in 2016. The outfit's leadership has revealed that its laptop and desktop firm will be spun out into a new wholly owned subsidiary, Fujitsu Client Computing Limited, on February 1st. In addition, the firm will do the same to its mobile arm, tossing it out to become the newly-formed Fujitsu Connected Technologies Limited.
Frontier lays off 15 employees
Frontier Developments has axed 15 positions from its Halifax studio somewhat unexpectedly, leaving this branch of the overall studio with a somewhat hazy future. According to investor reports, the move is the result of a refocusing of the company's business plan around its two major games, and with all of the expertise on Elite: Dangerous and the upcoming Coaster Park Tycoon concentrated in Cambridge, it simply made more sense to reduce staff in the satellite studio. No word on what this means for the long-term health of the Halifax location, which may very well be facing the axe as well. Our deep consolation goes to all employees affected by the layoffs.
RIFT announces Christopher Junior as game director
The release of RIFT's latest expansion has led to a minor changing of the guard over at Trion Worlds. It's still the same guard, though, just in different positions. A shuffling of the guard, if you will. The game's new executive producer Bill Fisher announced in a letter to the community that Christopher "Archonix" Junior is getting brought up to the director position following the release of Nightmare Tide. Junior, by his own words, has been working with RIFT focusing chiefly on the systems end of design. The game's holiday event is scheduled to live next week, followed by the first major patch since the launch of the expansion. The patch, tentatively titled Storm at Sea, will include a new open-world area, extensions to the existing raiding area, and updates to the Minion systems that were introduced with the expansion. Check out the full letter to the community for another few details and a bit more introduction to the game's new director.
Warframe welcomes space ninjas, passes 12M registered players
It is hard to beat around the bush on this one, so we are going to be blunt: Yes, Virginia, there are space ninjas. And yes, they're going to be arriving in Warframe whether or not you are prepared for them. Tomorrow, the sci-fi MMO will be releasing its 15th update, Archwing. The update will include the ability for players to fly characters through space as space ninjas (because why not?), using new weapons and fighting previously unknown enemies. Archwing will also add the Limbo warframe and a reputation system for added depth. Digital Extremes claims that Warframe has accumulated over 12 million registered players and is the most downloaded PlayStation 4 game. You can watch the Archwing trailer after the jump. [Source: Digital Extremes press release]
Warframe studio Digital Extremes partners with Perfect World
Back in July there were rumblings that Digital Extremes, the studio behind Warframe, would soon be added to the lineup of Perfect World's studios. After three months of negotiations, the deal has finally gone through, with Perfect World Online Holding and Sumpo Food Holdings Limited together acquiring a majority share in the company. The deal also includes giving Perfect World exclusive rights to publishing Warframe in mainland China. A post on the official forums is meant to assuage any player fears or concerns, stressing that the functional changes for players will be limited; the same people are in charge of the game's development as before. What it will mean, chiefly, is that the studio has more money to spend on updates and improvements to the game. Whether or not more of the game will change over time remains to be seen, but the current statement is a definite no. [Thanks to Revrent for the tip!]
Analysts suggest video game Kickstarters are in decline
If you're still holding out hope for Kickstarter as the new face of funding video game development, you may want to revise that projection. Analyst group ICO Partners has been tracking Kickstarter through 2014 and has observed a marked drop in successful projects, funds pledged, and overall scale of projects on the site. Based on projections, the group expects a 20% drop in successful projects by the end of the year -- not a collapse, but a definite shrink. The downturn is attributed to a variety of factors, including the lack of several big-name projects to draw people to the service and a number of high-profile failures. ICO Partners analyst Thomas Bidaux also notes that the amount being received by successful projects is diminishing, which he attributes to fans being less willing to drop money on a potential game when some of their already funded games have yet to materialize. The full report has more data and is well worth a read for anyone interested in crowdfunding and its future.
WildStar's Stephan Frost calls it quits
In a new WildStar Nexus Report livestream, Design Producer Stephan Frost stunned listeners by announcing that he would be leaving Carbine Studios. "It really pains me to say this, but this will be my last show and my last week at Carbine," he said on the show. "I'm off to a new adventure; I got an offer that I couldn't turn down and so I'm going to take it. This is super-hard for me. This is one of my proudest achievements. A lot of my heart and soul is in this game." Frost assured fans that it had nothing to do with the game and the community, and he promised that he would still be playing WildStar even after his departure.
EVE Evolved: Has the industry revamp worked?
When I was first introduced to EVE Online back in 2004, a big part of the attraction for me was the promise of a huge player-run economy in which the only real laws were those of supply and demand. With only a handful of tech 1 ships and modules available to build and everything made out of the same basic minerals, science and industry were pretty easy for new players to figure out. Over the years, more complexity has slowly been added to industry via features like Starbases, Salvaging, Capital Ships, Tech 2 Invention, Planetary Interaction and Tech 3 Reverse Engineering. Today's industrialists have to contend with hundreds of different items that are often arranged in sprawling component manufacturing chains, which can make it hard to figure out exactly how to make a profit. The recent industry revamp attempted to solve this problem with a full user interface overhaul and a revamp of material costs and manufacturing prices. All of the relevant information for using a blueprint was packed into a slick new combined Industry UI, allowing new players to find the info they're looking for in-game rather than through websites or opening dozens of item info windows. It's now been almost two months since the industry revamp went live, and while the market for many items is still going to take several months to fully stabilise, the dust has finally begun to settle. So what's the verdict? Has the industry revamp worked? In this edition of EVE Evolved, I consider whether the industry revamp has been successful, how easy it is to make a profit in the new system, and whether it's worth setting up your own industrial starbase.
