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Destiny’s soundtrack gets a multi-genre fan remake – listen here: 'Good news if you’re a fan of the music of Destiny, Bungie’s mythic sci-fi FPS – a fan-made project has just released which offers “multi-genre” covers of the original game’s tunes. Titled ‘Geomantic,’ the album is live to listen to on YouTube and various music streaming platforms now. As posted by user AtlyxMusic on Reddit, Geomantic is over half an hour long and features ten cover tracks of Destiny’s music in various styles, ranging from piano versions to metal re-imaginings, and more. It’s been created by seven musicians in the Destiny community over the course of the last year or so and offers both direct covers and music “inspired by” the game’s sounds. Geomantic is available to hear on YouTube (check out the first track, ‘Via’ – inspired by The Path – in the video below), as well as Bandcamp, where you can grab it for free, plus music platforms Spotify, Tidal, Deezer, and Pandora. The user explains the creators are “paying a service to host the music to streaming services, but we set it up so that we are not making any money off those releases. This is purely for the convenience of you, the audience.” They also say that people can use the music for anything they like. It looks like there could be more music on the way in future, too. The user says that there will eventually be a “longer album release of bonus tracks that didn’t fit thematically into this release, as well as some pieces we thought were cool but had to cut for one reason or another.” They guess that, added to Geomantic, this will make the total release more than an hour’s worth of music. Neat. Check out the full Geomantic track listing and playlist on YouTube here, or head to the platforms mentioned to find it. Meanwhile, if you’re a fan of the second instalment in the destiny universe, check out our guides to the best Destiny 2 class and Destiny 2 Shadowkeep exotics, which you might find handy the next time you dive in.

The internet can be a bad place. I know for the most part you likely exist in a carefree state as you browse brownie recipes or discuss how to deal with 30-50 feral hogs, but if you make that one mistaken click you need someone to watch your back from any potential nasties lying in wait. Apparently that should be Windows Defender. Yes, that Windows Defender. Windows Defender has been ranked amongst the world’s best antivirus programs. Seriously. That free software bundled with Windows 10 has become arguably the best around according to German researcher AV-Test’s latest report (via Softpedia), even despite Microsoft’s rocky past with antivirus software. Windows Defender version 4.18 received a perfect score across Windows 10 Home testing, receiving a six out of six for protection, performance, and usability. The research company spent two months continuously evaluating the efficacy of 34 different antivirus programs, throwing various real-world threats at their fiery gates to see what got through and what didn’t. And to everyone’s surprise, Windows Defender came out top alongside F-Secure, Kaspersky, and Norton. Most notably it ranked high for performance, with the free antivirus software managing to keep a low profile as it keeps a watchful eye in the background. It also scored a near-perfect score for Windows Client Business users, only losing half a point in the usability category. It’s definitely a huge win for Microsoft, with VP of Microsoft 365, Brad Anderson, not skipping a beat in jumping on the good news on Twitter. Anderson also reports that half a billion PCs around the world have Defender switched on – perhaps something to do with Microsoft’s rather aggressive popups and update strategy – but at least it’s also a solid solution.It’s definitely a huge win for Microsoft, with VP of Microsoft 365, Brad Anderson, not skipping a beat in jumping on the good news on Twitter. Anderson also reports that half a billion PCs around the world have Defender switched on – perhaps something to do with Microsoft’s rather aggressive popups and update strategy – but at least it’s also a solid solution.

Dr. Lisa Su has broken convention and confirmed that AMD will have a high-end version of its Navi GPU architecture in discrete graphics cards. Although no time-scale was given at the CES 2020 roundtable conversation with AMD’s CEO, the implication is that the almost mythical “Big Navi” GPU will be released this year. No hint at the potential specs of a potential high-end Navi were given either, with Dr. Su pointing out that she doesn’t “usually comment on unannounced products.” It would make sense for the high-end Navi GPU to be using the RDNA 2.0 design so that it can deliver on the promise of AMD’s ray tracing support. Especially considering that Dr. Su has also confirmed that there will be Radeon graphics cards launching this year that “will have ray tracing” support baked into them. If, as anonymous AIBs are suggesting, the high-end Navi GPU is able to compete with the current top end of Nvidia’s Turing generation of graphics cards in terms of standard gaming performance, AMD would surely want to compete with them on the ray tracing front at the same time. The question about the import of high-end graphics cards to AMD was put to Dr. Su by Gordon Mah Ung, and published in Anandtech’s transcription of the CES roundtable. “I know those on Reddit want a high end Navi!” she laughs. “You should expect that we will have a high-end Navi, and that it is important to have it. The discrete graphics market, especially at the high end, is very important to us. “So you should expect that we will have a high-end Navi, although I don’t usually comment on unannounced products.” Whether this high-end Navi will be the mahoosive Navi 21 GPU, with 5,120 RDNA cores and 80 compute units (CUs) that has been previously posited, or something more along the lines of the 56 CUs rumoured to be rocking the Xbox Series X’s world we still don’t know. But if it’s going to match something like Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Ti then it would have to be closer to the specs of the former than the latter. Anonymous sources talking to Videocardz have said that although they don’t have any specific details to share “they are sure it will be on par if not better than the current high-end RTX series.” But it will need to pop up probably in the first half of this year if the rumours of Nvidia’s next-generation 7nm GPUs appearing in the second half of 2020 come true. The potential 7nm Hopper graphics cards will take Nvidia’s historic efficiency and offer the GeForce GPUs the opportunity to push performance to new heights. The suggestion is that AMD is expected to deliver on the “Big Navi” promise either in June, at Computex or E3, or July exactly a year after the initial RX 5700 XT and RX 5700 cards dropped.

There are also 543 hp and 469 hp tunes from Renntech. Renntech is a major name in Mercedes-Benz tuning, and the company's latest undertaking gives the A45 a significant power upgrade. While the stock output of up to 416 horsepower (310 kilowatts) and 369 pound-feet (500 Newton-meters) is impressive, the company has kits coming in the first quarter of 2020 that can push the power as high as 592 hp (442 kW). Gallery: Mercedes-AMG A45 by Renntech: To get the full 592-hp output, the A45 requires a modified turbocharger, exhaust, and engine software. The same is true for Renntech's upcoming 543 hp (405 kW) upgrade. If you don't want to make the mechanical changes, then the firm also has a tune making 469 hp (349 kW) and 424 lb-ft (575 Nm) that only requires software changes The company doesn't make any performance claims for the upgrades at this time. The stock A45 S gets to 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour) in 3.9 seconds. The extra power should shed a few tenths off that time. Renntech is working on other parts for the A45. By late February, customers can order an optional downpipe and sports catalytic converter. There's also an upgraded exhaust on the way that improves the vehicle's sound but retains the original catalytic converter. As another option, customers can add a remote-controlled exhaust valve module that lets the owner fully open the pipes regardless of driving mode. The company is also working on some aesthetic upgrades for the A45. There are 19- and 20-inch wheels that are available in either cast or forged construction. The larger ones are available with an optional painted outer ring.

You know those houses with the over-the-top Christmas light displays? Well, meet the ideal car to park on the drive (provided there aren’t too many illuminated reindeer, plastic snowmen and chubster Santas taking up the space). Yes, the Nissan Leaf “Tree” edition is the gaudiest thing to emerge from the manufacturer since the 1977 Datsun Laurel Coupe assaulted good taste and reliability with unparalleled savagery. Fitted with thousands of LEDs, shimmery baubles and a reindeer, naturally, the Nissan is brighter than Rudolph’s nose. However, unlike over-decorated houses and high streets at this time of year, the energy required to power the car is completely sustainable and green. The Leaf is a pure battery-powered car, that is not a hybrid with a petrol or diesel engine also on-board. It can be plugged into the mains and, provided the electricity that comes down the line is itself green, has minimal impact on the environment – doing its bit to make Britain carbon neutral. The Leaf also uses regenerative energy to top up its batteries, making use of energy wasted during braking, for example, acting as a sort of sophisticated dynamo. The Nissan Leaf’s e-Pedal allows the driver to start, accelerate, decelerate and stop using only the accelerator pedal. The e-Pedal helps the car to harvest energy via regenerative braking. It works by recycling the energy from the movement of the car during braking or deceleration, which then goes straight back to the batteries, where it is used to recharge them. Using the e-Pedal gives the driver more range well over 200 miles. The company claims that energy regenerated through driving the Nissan Leaf for 11,000 miles represents 20 per cent of the overall domestic electricity consumption of an average household for one year. Indeed, this Leaf has been created to entertain, and get some publicity, but also to make a serious point about the national best-selling and British-built electric vehicle. Nissan says that Leaf drivers, collectively, would generate enough energy to power: 266 Christmas trees with 700 incandescent lights for a full hour of joy; 297 ovens for one hour to cook your Christmas dinner; 744 televisions for five hours to watch your favourite Christmas films; 10,783 houses with 1,000 LED lights for five hours. Helen Perry, head of electric vehicles for Nissan Europe, comments: “Santa shouldn’t be the only one with a festive mode of transport. We wanted to make the Nissan Leaf more fun at this time of year whilst driving home a very important message. “We hope this custom-made vehicle inspires people about the benefits of regenerative energy. After nearly 10 years since Leaf was first introduced in Europe, Nissan continues to be fully focused on providing consumers a more sustainable lifestyle through electric mobility.” Understandably, given that it transgresses large sections of the Highway Code and standard car insurance policies, the Nissan tree is not available to rent or purchase. Still, the weather outside is frightful, so let it glow, let it glow, let it glow...

Ukraine’s embassy in Iran has appeared to delete a statement suggesting technical problems were to blame for the crash of a passenger jet near Tehran on Wednesday morning. That statement appeared to back up earlier assertions by Iranian officials that a faulty engine had led to the accident. “According to preliminary information,” the statement had read, “the plane crashed as a result of a technical failure of the engine. The possibility of a terrorist attack or missile strike are currently ruled out.” But by 10am local time, that page was no longer accessible from the embassy’s site, with no additional information given about the details of the crash. Later, a new statement appeared at the same web address saying that it was for an official commission to determine the cause of the accident. There was no immediate explanation for the apparent retraction. Flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800, took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport at 6:12 am, losing contact two minutes later. The crash happened a few hours after Iran launched missile strikes on US military bases in Iraq. According to aviation authorities, there were 167 passengers and 9 crew on board. The vast majority of those on board were Iranian (82) and Canadian (63) citizens. Tehran was quick to blame technical problems for the crash. Qassem Biniaz, a spokesman for Iran’s Road and Transportation Ministry, said the pilot “lost control of the plane” after a fire broke out in one of its engines. Modern aircraft engines are designed to withstand the failure of an engine, even if it catches fire. What seems to be unusual in this case is that after a normal climb, the plane stopped sending all data at around 8000 feet. That would seem to suggest a catastrophic incident of some sort. Clues will likely be contained in the plane’s flight recorders, which were recovered shortly after the crash. Iran’s civil aviation authorities said they would not follow normal practice of sending the boxes to US-plane manufacturer Boeing, but declined to say who would be responsible for analysing the data. At a hastily arranged press conference on Wednesday morning, Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA) discounted the possibility of technical problems. There was “nothing wrong” with the aircraft, UIA’s president Yevgen Dykhne insisted. The plane was three years old and had only two days previously undergone a scheduled technical check. “We guarantee the safety of our aircraft and the high qualification of our crews,” he said. The airline announced it would be suspending all flights to Iran until further notice.

Dota 2’s average player count drops to six-year low: Dota 2‘s average player count has now tumbled to its lowest number in nearly six years. With an average of just over 384k players in December 2019, it’s the lowest count the game’s seen since December 2013. That’s according to Steam Charts, which tracks player numbers across games available on the platform. According to its Dota 2 figures for December, the game attracted an average of 384,180 players over the month, which is only the second time since January 2014 the game’s dropped below an average of 400k – following October 2019, which saw 388,356. It’s worth noting, however, that the latest figures do still place the MOBA game in the top three most-played games on Steam. Between the above dates, average player counts have ranged between roughly 400k and nearly 710k (in February 2016), though they haven’t broken the 600k mark since October 2016, according to the site’s numbers. This is despite 2019 being an otherwise pretty big year for the game, with the peak player count surpassing one million for the first time in two years. It’s not clear why numbers have dropped recently, particularly given developer Valve released the Dota 2 Outlanders update at the end of 2019, bringing two new heroes and overhauled gameplay to the MOBA game. December 2019’s average is still a pretty giant number, with current numbers over the last 30 days of around the same figure making it the third most-played game on Steam at the time of writing, just behind Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. However, it does signal quite a significant drop-off of players over the last few years. How Valve might respond, and whether future updates in 2020 might see those numbers start to climb again, remains to be seen.

The rain splatters on the canopy overhead as I fly through a storm-filled canyon. Somewhere in this lightning cloud is an enemy jet. The pilot is weaving between the hoodoos, using the thick spires of rock as cover from my missile lock. I nudge at the throttle, wanting to close the gap with my target while leaving myself slow enough to manoeuver around any obstacles that come out of the fog. I’m out of the cluster missiles that would make this job easier. I fired the full spread while I was wiping out a swarm of automated drones patrolling above the warren of canyons. All I have are my standard homing missiles and nose-mounted cannon. The missiles travel quickly, which is essential when you’re dogfighting in the open sky, but work against me in this maze of narrow passages. And I need to practically tailgate the enemy to get a clear shot with the cannon. My vision flashes yellow and alarm buzzers fill the cockpit as I’m struck by lightning. My plane’s controls won’t respond. A mechanical voice bleats at me to ‘Pull up! Pull up!’ as the rock wall of the canyon starts to fill my view. The console reboots and my controls kick back in just in time. I’m able to throttle down, pull back on the stick and fly up the side of the canyon and out of the storm. After taking a moment to collect myself, I point the nose back down into the maelstrom in search of my target The first few missions of Ace Combat 7 have me worried. They are simple, introducing your jets’ different abilities – flares, targeting computer, high-g turns – but they fast become flat and repetitive. Combat is easy: fly into missile range of the target and, whenever they escape my view, follow the on-screen arrow until I find them again, firing two missiles into their backside. There’s little challenge to it. In part that’s down to it being so easy to keep your plane in the air. This is an arcade flight combat game – the controls don’t even take up all the buttons on a gamepad. It makes Ace Combat brilliantly accessible, but means you have to find your thrills elsewhere. In a flight simulator you might be playing for a hundred hours before you have a thorough understanding of a single plane. In Ace Combat you form that affinity within the first hour of playing. What makes the game thrilling is that, from the fourth mission onwards, every scenario could feel at home in an action movie. Find and destroy supply trucks that only sporadically appear on your radar because you’re in a sandstorm. Bomb mountain-top radar stations protected by long-range missile turrets that target you as soon as you fly above the low-lying clouds. There’s even one mission where you have to provide ground support for a VIP driving through a city in the middle of a battle, all without a functioning targeting computer. Flying directly over targets is a surefire way to tell friend from foe, but a dangerous one. Each mission, too, takes place in a different, giant map, sculpted from lusciously textured terrain and dusted with cities and roads. The skies are dotted with puffy clouds that wet your vision when flown through. And, if you fly high enough, ice will form on the surface of your plane, forcing you into a stall that sends you falling back to earth. It’s a treat to look at, but also to listen to. As you complete your missions your ears are filled with the radio chatter of your (largely useless) wingmates and even occasionally your enemies’ broadcasts. When planes fly past you there’s a roar and, in the case of drones, the whining scream of an F1 engine. The ingenuity of the missions hooked me and I raced through the campaign, always keen to see what the next level would throw at me. It even got me through some of Ace Combat’s rougher edges, such as the game’s awful checkpointing. One format of mission you return to a few times in the campaign is Annihilation. You arrive in a large arena dotted with enemy bases, SAM sites, ground vehicles, and air support. Every enemy asset has a point value attached to it, and your mission is to destroy more than a certain value’s worth to continue. You have to do all this in a 15 minute time limit with success often coming down to the wire. If you die at any point you have to start the whole the mission again from the beginning. Some of these I repeat ten times or more, adding up to hours of frustration. The problem with poor checkpointing is it quashes risk-taking. I didn’t want to try threading my jet through the scaffolding of an oilrig to blast its structural supports at close-range because if I clipped my wing and exploded I’d undo ten minutes of play. But I did keep restarting. There are too few arcade-skewed flight games nowadays. The likes of Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator, Crimson Skies, and, hell, even Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X are long gone. Most modern flight games are for the simulation audience, and you have to look to space games for the more arcadey dogfights. If you’re like me, and can’t work your way through a 300-page flight manual, then you’re stuck with zero-g dogfights. As fun as they can be, there is something about following an enemy plane into a steep dive, desperately fighting against gravity to line up your sights with their fuselage, and then firing off your missiles seconds before pulling out of the dive. There’s a glee in wheeling away to safety, your target a burning wreckage behind you. Despite this, now that I’ve completed the campaign I don’t think I’ll be staying. Beyond its graphical fidelity, Ace Combat 7 isn’t a leap forward for flight combat games, nor does it feel like the beginning of a renaissance for the genre. I’m walking away from the game, despite there being more planes to unlock, upgrades to buy, and a multiplayer mode to sink into. It was, at times, wonderful to be back in the cockpit and to feel that glee again, but on this occasion it’s not quite enough to keep me locked on.

Monster Hunter: World had already brought Monster Hunter to the masses and helped revitalise the series, so Iceborne has a lot to live up to. Well, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is to the base game what chocolate ice cream is to chocolate biscuits. Which is to say, it’s more of the same thing you’re already here for – but a bit colder. Set after the story of the base game, Iceborne has you investigating the strange behaviour of some of the giant creatures of the new world. Your quest leads you to an entirely new region: Hoarfrost Reach. This is a brutally cold environment filled with new monsters to fight, new materials to gather, and a whole host of new idiosyncrasies to learn — both in terms of the monsters you hunt and the ground on which you hunt them. You only get access to a small portion of it to begin with, but it opens up considerably as you progress through the new hunts. And as cool as Hoarfrost Reach is, the stars of the show are the new monsters. Iceborne adds a vast rogue’s gallery of new creatures for you to fashion a hat out of. Series newcomers will appreciate having over a dozen new beasts to fight, while long-time fans will recognise returning favourites. Naturally, each has its own behaviours and attacks, which are shown off in spectacular fashion as monsters fight each other in some genuinely astounding turf wars. These could well be my personal highlight of Iceborne thanks to their unique animations, and there’s also something devilishly satisfying in sitting back and seeing the various dragons and angry doggos tear huge chunks of damage out of each other. You’ve got a lot of content ahead of you as you hunt each of these down for new armour, weapons, and charms. The main story itself is around 25 hours long, but only if you’re an expert hunter who can slay your quarry first time. Throw in the extra expeditions you can take on to get those sweet, sweet outfits, and all in all you’re looking at dozens of hours more fun. Alongside all the new monsters to slay comes a slew of new ways in which to slay them, as each of your weapons gets more attacks. These range from the more functional, like the insect glaive’s dive attack, to the entirely over-the-top, like the charge blade’s spinning transformation. They all add extra ways of lovingly coaxing each of the giant beasts into a trap, and each new attack makes its weapon feel a little bit fresher than before. In fact, some weapons are so transformed that you may even find a new favourite. You’ve also got the clutch claw, which is an upgrade to your slinger. This gives you the ability to grapple onto monsters like Spider-Man and either attack them with your weapon, which weakens whichever limb you hit, or you can fire all your slinger ammo into your prey. The latter option will send the monster charging forwards, and if you can get them to run into a wall they’ll fall over and be left vulnerable. It’s an excellent addition to the techniques at your disposal, and getting a monster to faceplant a wall never really loses its appeal. It all ties together to create a wonderfully refreshing version of Monster Hunter: World, but it’s not without a couple of issues. The main missions are a lot of fun, but there are moments where the cadence can feel a little bit odd. After your initial fight with one of the monsters you end up traipsing around for a couple of missions, which feels more like busywork than anything else. It’s something that Monster Hunter has always had a bit of an issue with; the hunts you go on don’t always feel meaningful. There were also a few technical issues in my time with Iceborne. Every so often the game would simply freeze for three to five seconds. This would be a nuisance in a single-player game, but in an online multiplayer game it can be fatal, as it often leads to you taking huge chunks of damage that you literally can’t do anything about. While I wouldn’t say it ruins the game, it definitely detracts from an otherwise brilliant experience. Despite these two problems, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne feels like Monster Hunter perfected. It’s a little bit more of everything that makes the series so enjoyable, and the additions in terms of monsters, attacks, and techniques all add up to create one of the best pieces of DLC in recent memory. Iceborne will easily keep you entertained for as much time as you can give it.

Happy Birthday !, wish you the best !

Tesla is rolling out a holiday software update for its line of electric vehicles, and with it comes the adorably addictive farm life simulator Stardew Valley. The update will also offer what Tesla CEO Elon Musk calls a “sneak preview” of its upcoming full self-driving functionality, and perhaps Stardew Valley will help keep passengers occupied during their automated rides. Musk tweeted the news Thursday evening. The brief tweet says simply that the holiday software update includes a “FSD sneak preview, Stardew Valley, Lost Backgammon & a few other things,” as CNET reports. It isn’t clear exactly what a ‘sneak preview’ is when it comes to self-driving cars, although as CNET notes, planned features for Tesla vehicles include recognition of stop signs and traffic lights (that’s an important one, I’d say). CNET also notes that the FSD upgrade will cost existing Tesla owners another $7,000 USD (about £5,383) on top of whatever they’ve paid for their Tesla model. That makes the upgrade significantly more expensive than my car was, but hey, such is the cost of living on the bleeding edge of personal transportation technology. Stardew Valley isn’t the first game to get ported to Tesla’s proprietary touchscreen interface. You can already play Fallout Shelter and Cuphead on the system, which will be particularly helpful should autonomous cars become the norm and you need something to occupy the time you’d normally have spent paying attention to where you’re going. It’s also possible – although not yet confirmed or acknowledged – that Tesla’s could be ported into games, as some Rocket League fans have started a petition to include Musk’s newly-revealed Cybertruck in the game.

Watch AMD’s CES 2020 press conference livestream from Las Vegas right here… or even just catch up later through the magic of on-demand video. What a wonderful world is the future. We know there’ll be Ryzen 4000 APUs on show in just a few minutes, kicking off a whole generation of AMD-based laptops, and we’re pretty confident there’ll be at least one new graphics card lighting up the Mandalay Bay conference room – the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT. But Dr. Lisa Su’s surely going to have at least “one more thing…” up her sleeve, maybe that ‘Nvidia Killer?’ Yes, it’s January and that means it’s time for the tech industry to hit the ground running with the Consumer Electronics Show kicking off in Sin City itself. CES 2020 itself officially starts tomorrow, but we’re already on the ground in Las Vegas prodding tech and stroking silicon. And at 2pm Pacific Time (10pm GMT) today, January 6, AMD will be hosting the first big PC press conference of the week before the show has even started. AMD is promising to “push the envelope yet again to make 2020 an incredible year for high-performance computing” with it’s CES 2020 announcements, so this is definitely going to be one presser to keep an eye on. You can watch the AMD CES press conference livestream here from 2pm PT (5pm ET, 10pm GMT). So, what are we expecting to see from AMD at the show? The most obvious is the red team’s latest range of Zen 2-based Renoir APUs. The new processors will house the same chiplet CPU architecture as AMD has used in last year’s Ryzen 3000 chips, and will pair it with a mildly modified version of the Vega GPU architecture. The AMD Renoir APUs will likely top out with the full eight-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 4800HS that has been leaked from Asus’ new Zephyrus range of AMD-powered laptops. That’s being matched by Intel, with the announcement that its Comet Lake H-series chips will also feature an octa-core chip with HyperThreading, but one which will break through the 5GHz barrier by some margin We might also see a little teaser about the upcoming AMD Ryzen 4000 CPUs, code-named Vermeer. These will be the first 7nm+ Zen 3 processors, and are set to arrive probably in the second half of this year. There’s not a lot yet known about the specifics of the new CPU design, but there’s has been some noises from AMD that it’s far more than just a refresh of the Zen 2 architecture. On the graphics front it’s a pretty sure thing that there will be some AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT GPUs on show, with the worst-kept secret in graphics having been regularly leaked over the last few weeks. But will AMD stop there? There has been talk of a more high-end graphics card potentially coming from the red team this year to challenge Nvidia’s finest. Will Dr. Lisa Su have such an ‘Nvidia Killer’ up on stage with her at CES? AMD surprised everyone with the Radeon VII last year, and it might fancy doing the same again this year. Whatever happens, we’re be right here at Mandalay Bay to see what’s coming from AMD in 2020, and will keep you right up to date.

PUBG devs “took a risk” in releasing the game: Nearly two years after PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds arrived and rocked the battle royale scene’s world, one of its producers has now talked about some questions that initially hovered over its development, calling the game “almost a reckless attempt” and something of a “risk.” As spotted by our sister site The Loadout, executive producer at developer PUBG Corp., Taeseok Jang, has discussed PUBG’s release in a video looking back at its creation. In the video, titled PUBG – Early Days Retrospective, which you can check out below, he says the team of devs behind PUBG had “almost no experience” back in its early stages of development, and were pretty new to the FPS games genre. According to the game’s action and gameplay tech part lead, Marek Krasowski, the devs faced some challenges getting the game’s ambitious features and designs off the ground against tight time constraints, which meant they had to “refine and polish” prototypes “to be good enough to be shipped in a live game.” This, Jang says, carried its risks. “I think what is very important is to create the game, only after thinking through how gamers will take in these features,” he explains at around the 2:28 mark. “It was almost a reckless attempt, but we took a risk with the version we had in mind with a strong will to succeed and we happened to succeed.” PUBG launched in Steam Early Access in March 2017 with its full release the following December. In the time since then the battle royale has seen a raft of new goodies arrive, including three new PUBG maps, updates, and most recently, a Motor Glider that lets you fly for the first time. As part of the recent PUBG 5.2 update, the devs now have a way of testing new features, modes, and changes before they head to the live game in the form of PUBG Labs.

It sold particularly well in December, besting its smaller coupe brother. Toyota Motor North America has released its December 2019 and year-end sales report. The Japanese brand was able to sell a total of 2,383,349 vehicles. Despite the number, the marque suffered a 1.8 percent decrease in sales versus 2018's numbers, both in volume and daily selling rate basis. Part of this sales number was the brand's halo car, the Supra. Toyota sold a total of 2,884 units of the two-seat sports coupe in 2019. The 86, the other Toyota sports car, sold better than the Supra at 3,398 units sold. In December of the same year, however, there were more Supra units sold than the 86, at 404 versus 276, respectively. Gallery: 2020 Toyota Supra: First Drive It's also notable that Toyota's cars have seen a dip in sales in 2019 when compared to its total in 2018. Toyota has seen a 4 percent decrease in sales, with the exception of the Corolla. The compact car has seen a 0.4 percent increase in sales in 2019, led by a best-ever year performance of its hatchback version with a 5.2 percent increase. On the other hand, huge Toyota SUVs sold well in 2019, amassing a total of 882,162 units versus the 875,372 units of 2018. This was led by the RAV4, which marked an all-time best-ever year, up 4.9 percent sales. The RAV4 Hybrid finished 2019 with a 92.3 percent sales increase, year-over-year. Toyota's pickup truck division suffered a bit of a loss, though. While the Tacoma sold better in 2019 with 248,801 units sold, the bigger Tundra suffered a dip – a 5.6 percent dip to be exact – which brought down the total Toyota pickup sales numbers by 0.9 percent compared to 2018.

When winter sets in and days are shorter and darker, the change in light can wreak havoc on our sleep schedules and moods. But coming home and sitting in a poorly lit, dark space doesn’t have to be part of the season. Here’s how interior design experts make rooms feel bright and cheery, even in the dead of winter. Create layered lighting You’ll get more use out of your lights in the winter than any other time of the year, so make sure you’re adequately prepared. And don’t despair if you don’t have lots of windows, says Sarah Barney, owner and designer at BANDD Design in Austin, Texas. “Embrace what you have since there’s only so much you can do,” she explains. Here’s how to build a layered lighting scheme: Overhead lighting: This is the base that washes the whole room in light. “The type of fixture makes all the difference,” says Erin Shakoor, the Chicago-based founder of Shakoor Interiors. “Put it as high above your head as possible to avoid dead spots.” She likes fixtures with adjustable arms so you can redirect light into areas as necessary. (Many overhead fixtures in rentals can be easily swapped and replaced; check with your landlord.) Wall and floor lamps: Place wall sconces and floor lamps in strategic locations where you want to highlight wall decor. “The best-lit rooms are the ones where the walls are lit,” says LeeAnn Baker, a Seattle-based designer. She uses wall sconces and washers to create “art-like” lighting. Tabletop lamps: Place these where you need concentrated lighting, Barney says. She likes lighter-coloured shades with an open top so light shines through both ends. Decorative lights: Think candles, string lights and more. Barney prefers an arrangement of pillar candles in an open fireplace or on a tabletop. Kashi Shikunova, partner and interior designer at YAM Studios in London, likes to put strands of string lights in glass bowls. Switch out your lightbulbs Shakoor suggests switching to lightbulbs that are between 2,700 Kelvin and 3,000 Kelvin. Bulbs in this range emit a soft white light that creates a pleasing, warm glow as opposed to the harsh hues we face from office lighting and screens, which can affect the quality of your sleep. Avoid bulbs that look too orange, which can give an antique look. Consider your colours Avoid dark wall colour if you don’t have big windows: If you’re trying to create the illusion of brightness, lighter colours on the walls are the way to go, experts say. Dark paint is in, but it’s best avoided if the goal is to make a space brighter. Dark walls absorb light, which will make a room feel even darker if you don’t have an abundance of natural light to begin with, Shakoor says. “You could paint a room black as long as you have appropriate lighting and floor-to-ceiling windows,” she says. Don’t make everything the same white: white is the go-to when creating a light, bright and open space, but a room that’s entirely the same shade washes everything out. To avoid flatness, Shikunova layers shades of neutrals that complement and contrast with one another to create visual interest. “If you do everything in all white, it may be bright, but it’s not necessarily warm,” she says. Texture and contrast bring warmth. Use a reflective paint finish: Baker uses semi-gloss paints on the walls and ceiling or reflective and metallic wallpapers (she likes grass cloth) to bounce light around the room. “I love using at least an eggshell because it makes the walls more reflective,” she says. Pick colours that work in low light: “Using a warm, neutral paint colour is a great way to feel cozy but not overpowered with colours,” Baker says. She likes Benjamin Moore’s Edgecomb Gray, which works well in Seattle’s winters. Cooler-toned blues and greens, such as sage, interact well with low light and provide a subtle but pleasing hint of colour without looking too dark, Barney says. Two of her go-to colours are Sea Salt and North Star, both by Sherwin-Williams. Beyond the wall, Baker says, using lighter-coloured woods and furnishings can also help the room seem lighter. “Darker will always absorb more light, and lighter will always appear brighter,” she says. Paint the ceiling and wall the same colour: unless your space has crown molding, Shakoor suggests keeping the wall and ceiling the same colour. It helps the space feel brighter and more open because it doesn’t define the end of the ceiling, she says. “It makes the ceiling feel like it’s going away,” Baker says. Use mirrors and reflective items You don’t want your space to feel like a fun house, but mirrors and wall decor with brass or metal accents will help bounce light around the room and will create the illusion of a lighter space. In rooms with only one or two small windows, Shakoor suggests hanging a mirror on the wall opposite the window. Barney likes to cluster several small mirrors together or include them in gallery walls. Window treatments are an easy way to apply this idea: “Fabric with sheen will reflect light and feel less weighty,” Shakoor says. Just don’t pick anything too heavy, because it will block light. She likes cream, ivory, pale gray and rose. White works well here, too; it filters sunlight inside and creates a glowing effect. Add some greenery “Coming in and seeing a bright pop of life creates a good environment and adds visual texture,” says Janine Dowling, founder of Boston-based Janine Dowling Design. She suggests buying several small bouquets (she enjoys the selection and prices at Trader Joe’s) and spreading them around the areas of your home where you spend the most time. “Big gerbera daisies are the happiest flowers I’ve ever seen,” she says. She also likes fiddle-leaf fig trees because they’re low-maintenance and do well in indirect light. “The big leaves have a lot of texture and would look great in a pretty pot with moss,” she says. And don’t think you need a dwarf tree because you live in a small space; Shakoor suggests picking a tree that stops about four inches below the ceiling to create drama. If you don’t want a live plant, you can still add a botanical element to the space. Shikunova likes to “bring the outdoors inside”. One of her favourite holiday tips for residents who are short on space but not on holiday spirit is a “Christmas tree vase”. Fill a tall vase with pine leaves, pine cones and branches and add decorative embellishments.

Donald Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian cultural sites would be a war crime if carried out, legal experts have claimed, as the US president doubled down on his comments over the weekend. In the aftermath of the US killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Iraq last week, Mr Trump warned Iran that a list of targets had been drawn up should it retaliate, including cultural sites with no military value. “Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have.... targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD,” he wrote on Twitter. International law prohibits deliberate attacks on civilian objects not being used for military purposes. Experts in international law said the attacks, if carried out, would constitute war crimes. “President Trump should publicly reverse his threats against Iran’s cultural property and make clear that he will not authorise nor order war crimes,” said Andrea Prasow, acting Washington director at Human Rights Watch. Ms Prasow added that the threat demonstrated the president’s “callous disregard for the global rule of law”. “The US Defence Department should publicly reaffirm its commitment to abide by the laws of war and comply only with lawful military orders,” she said. Iran has vowed to retaliate for the death of Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Quds Force, who was killed in a US drone strike at Baghdad airport last Friday. Mr Trump ordered the strike against Soleimani following weeks of tensions between the US military and Iran-backed militias in Iraq. The killing, and the president’s subsequent threats, have provoked a flood of criticism at home and abroad. Boris Johnson issued a rare criticism of the UK’s transatlantic ally on Monday. “There are international conventions in place that prevent the destruction of cultural heritage,” the prime minister’s spokesperson said. “You are threatening to commit war crimes,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, a frontrunner in the Democratic party’s list of candidates hoping to challenge Mr Trump in November’s election. “We are not at war with Iran. The American people do not want a war with Iran,” she added. Brett McGurk, former US envoy to the international coalition set up to defeat Isis, called Mr Trump’s comments “unacceptable” and “unAmerican”. “American military forces adhere to international law. They don’t attack cultural sites. And they’re not mercenaries. Reckless and unprecedented words from a commander-in-chief,” he said. Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, tweeted that “targeting cultural sites is a WAR CRIME”. “Having committed grave breaches of int’l law in Friday’s cowardly assassinations, @realdonaldtrump threatens to commit again new breaches of JUS COGENS [international law],” he added. Despite the criticism, Mr Trump doubled down on his threat on Sunday. “They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites? It doesn’t work that way,” the president said in comments to reporters. The president also raised the prospect of using disproportionate force to respond to any Iranian retaliation – which would also constitute a war crime. “These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!” he wrote. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo appeared to offer a confusing defence of the president’s words in an interview with CNN. “If we need to defend American interests, we will do so. What President Trump said last night is consistent with what we have said all along,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “And the American people should know we will always defend them and we’ll do so in a way that is consistent with international rule of law and the American constitution,” he added, without explaining how targeting cultural sites would not violate international law. The Geneva Conventions specifically prohibit “any acts of hostility against cultural objects, including making such objects the target of reprisals”, according to Human Rights Watch. The rights group also noted that the US is a party to the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954), which similarly prohibits such attacks. The United Nations' cultural agency, Unesco, addressed the controversy with a reminder that the US had signed treaties committing to not harming cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict. Unesco director general Audrey Azoulay said the US had signed a 1972 convention that obliged it not to undertake "any deliberate measures which might damage directly or indirectly the cultural and natural heritage" of other states. Rhys Davies, an international criminal law barrister, told The Independent that the kind of military action described in Mr Trump’s tweets “could certainly be a war crime”, but that any kind of prosecution might be difficult. “Even though the US is not a signatory of the International Criminal Court, there is a domestic framework where someone could be brought to justice in the US. But that probably enters the realm of the political. As the leader of Iran’s Quds Force, 62-year-old Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s expanding influence across the Middle East. He travelled the region in his dual roles of diplomat and military commander to build and support a “resistance bloc” – an alliance of Shia militant groups that would facilitate Iran’s regional ambitions and counter US influence. The proxy groups he built and supported killed hundreds of US troops during the Iraq War.