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But the recently approved relief package, with a proposed $600 stimulus check included, isn’t enough for middle-class Americans and small business owners who are in dire need of help, Illinois restaurant owner Jeff Buckler told "Fox & Friends Weekend" on Sunday. "They’re going to starve to death," he said. "They’re talking about a $600 stimulus check that won’t even pay a month’s rent. People have car payments, utility bills and all that stuff. Food to put on the table for their kids." BEVERLY HILLS RESTAURANT CAUGHT 'DISCREET' NEW YEAR'S DINNER AMID DINING BAN The Lil Buford's Bar & Grill owner said this limited support is going to drive restaurant workers out of the industry and into more stable, better-paying jobs, or ultimately unemployment. And Buckler added that unemployment funding isn’t enough, either. "Unemployment as a server – we’ve got one girl – gets $150 over two weeks. How are you supposed to survive on that money?" he asked. "You just can't." Since several counties in Illinois have kept indoor dining shut down, Buckler made the decision to keep his dining room open despite being fined hundreds of dollars per day. In Champaign County, home to Lil Buford’s, Buckler said officials refuse to lift strict lockdowns even though the county next door allows people to dine inside. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Buckler said especially in the winter season, it makes it "impossible" to operate without indoor service. "There are thousands of servers and cooks and bartenders out of work," he said. "People are starving. It’s going to get bad here soon."

This article comes to us courtesy of EVANNEX, which makes and sells aftermarket Tesla accessories. The opinions expressed therein are not necessarily our own at InsideEVs, nor have we been paid by EVANNEX to publish these articles. We find the company's perspective as an aftermarket supplier of Tesla accessories interesting and are happy to share its content free of charge. Enjoy! Posted on EVANNEX on December 27, 2020 by Charles Morris In the Hydrogen-Battery War, the tide is turning in favor of batteries. Automakers including GM, VW, Daimler and Honda have recently dropped plans to develop fuel cell-powered passenger vehicles, citing hydrogen’s far lower efficiency as an energy storage medium, the challenges of developing a fueling infrastructure, and the fact that most of today’s hydrogen is made from fossil fuels. However, even many staunch BEV advocates believe that hydrogen may have a viable role to play in at least one segment: heavy-duty road transport. When it comes to the big rigs, the enormous weight and size of the battery packs required, and the limited range of BEVs, could make fuel cell trucks a better choice, despite their lower efficiency. A related possibility is e-fuel—synthetic liquid fuels made using “excess” renewable energy from intermittent sources such as solar and wind. Obviously, Tesla, the maker of the Tesla Semi, does not agree. Another skeptic is Auke Hoekstra, a researcher at Eindhoven University of Technology. In a recent interview with Clean Energy Wire, Hoekstra says that fuel cell or e-fuel trucks will never be able to compete with battery-electric trucks’ business case. “People who don’t see battery-electric trucks as the best solution often take the hardest business case that a diesel truck can manage,” said Hoekstra. “For example, multi-day trips with a team of two drivers, or trips where it is really important to have a range of 2,000 kilometers—and of course, in such cases battery-electric cannot compete with diesel, or with e-fuels, for that matter.” “But my research in the Netherlands has revealed that 80 percent of trucks—even the really big rigs, the semis—travel 750 kilometers per day at the very most, and many cover far shorter distances. That’s because if you want to cover more kilometers, things become very expensive very quickly, because you have to pay overtime, etc. So, in general, you can’t make a driver do more than 750 kilometers per day. Therefore, this is the range you have to hit with about 80 percent of trucks.” Furthermore, most trucks return to bases at the end of the day, which creates ideal conditions for charging. “We still have this romantic idea that truckers are on the road for weeks on end, but this scenario has become relatively rare,” says Hoekstra. He cites an example from the Netherlands, where many trucks make the short run from the huge container port at Rotterdam port to Germany’s Ruhr industrial region. “Many truckers do this sort of trip a couple of times per day, and then return home, so you can charge the vehicle overnight at a default location.” Hoekstra also notes that batteries are steadily getting lighter, and replacing a diesel drivetrain with an electric one saves weight: “Redesigning a conventional truck from the ground up using an electric drivetrain can result in almost three tons of weight reduction—something the Tesla Semi has done. If you have an electric motor, you can put it close to the wheels—or use several of them, one for each axle or one for each wheel—and it’s much more compact. It’s all very easy to engineer with electric motors, but almost impossible to do with combustion engines. This is why I think that within five years, we will have 40-ton battery semis with 800 km of range that could carry more cargo than conventional trucks.” Above: VW, for one, makes the case for superior efficiency of battery electric vehicles in lieu of hydrogen fuel cells (Source: Volkswagen) What about synthetic fuels? “As far as I can tell, e-fuel trucks have one single big advantage only: they run on very energetically condensed fuel. But in terms of efficiency, in terms of maintenance, and in terms of price per km, they are highly inferior to battery-electric trucks. Both the production of e-fuels and their use in combustion engines are highly inefficient. Overall, e-fuel trucks need 4-5 times the energy required to power an electric vehicle. That’s why I don’t see that option going anywhere.” “The same is true for hydrogen, but to a slightly lesser extent. Fuel cell trucks will remain much more expensive to operate. That’s because we have to make hydrogen from electricity, and we lose at least half of the energy in the process. Therefore, you will definitely need twice as much electricity to power a fuel cell truck than a battery one.” Hoekstra isn’t totally against hydrogen, which after all, can deliver significant emissions reduction compared to diesel. However, he agrees with those who argue that hydrogen should be used only in sectors in which electrification isn’t practical—and that doesn’t include road transport. “We only have a limited amount of green energy, and there are much better uses for hydrogen than putting it in a truck—for example, it can be used for decarbonizing industry and aviation. From the point of view of the transportation companies...it’s harder to make a good business case for hydrogen than for battery trucks.” “Within the next couple of years, we’ll see the first Tesla Semis on the road. This will have a huge impact on the conversation about electric trucks. Suddenly, all those people within trucking companies who say it cannot be done will hear their boss replying:, ‘Well, our competitor can do it—so you will have to do it, too.’” Five to seven years from now, Hoekstra believes we’ll see several other companies building electric trucks. Tesla is providing a much-needed push in the right direction to the conservative trucking industry: “You need someone to demonstrate to them that it’s really possible. Apart from Tesla, I don’t see any properly redesigned trucks. For example, they all stick to a central motor. This is old thinking—they’re basically taking the truck as is, drilling out some drivetrain components to put some batteries in, and then replacing the combustion engine with an electric motor and some more batteries. That’s not a redesigned truck—that’s basically a retrofit.”

A recruitment drive by the Boy Scouts of America is proving "highly damaging" to the Girl Scouts, lawyers acting for the latter organisation say. The "infringement" meant many parents mistakenly signed their daughters up for Boy Scouts, thinking it was Girl Scouts, lawyers said. In response, the Boy Scouts accused the Girl Scouts of starting a "ground war". The Boy Scouts dropped the word "boy" from its recruitment programme, and opened up to female members, in 2018. It said at the time that it was renaming the Boy Scouts programme Scouts BSA as it prepared to allow girls to join. But the Girl Scouts said the change would erode their brand, calling the move "uniquely damaging" to them, filing an initial lawsuit in November 2018 against trademark infringement. line More on scout groups in the US: Boy Scouts move to accept girls prompts backlash Boy Scouts apologise for Trump's speech Last month, lawyers acting on behalf of the Boy Scouts asked a judge to throw out the lawsuit, which suggested it could not use "scouts" or "scouting" in its recruitment material for girls. In the latest filing at the Manhattan federal court on Christmas Eve, the Girl Scouts described the new recruitment programme as "highly damaging" to its organisation, having caused an "explosion of confusion" among parents. "As a result of Boy Scouts' infringement... [there have been] rampant instances of confusion and mistaken instances of association between Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts," the papers stated, adding that the organisation could provide proof of such instances. In a statement released on Saturday, the Boy Scouts said this was "not only inaccurate - with no legally admissible instance of this offered to date in the case - but it is also dismissive of the decisions of more than 120,000 girls and young women who have joined Cub Scouts or Scouts BSA". In October 2017, the Boy Scouts' board of directors voted unanimously to open the century-old club to all children. The move triggered a fierce backlash online, with the Girl Scouts accusing the group of initiating a "covert campaign" to recruit girls into an organisation that had a "well-documented" declining membership. The Boy Scouts reportedly has close to 2.3 million members in the US, down by about a third since 2000, compared with about 1.7 million members for the Girl Scouts - excluding adult volunteers.

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Asus (via Twitter user HXL) has inadvertently confirmed the memory specifications for Nvidia's forthcoming GeForce RTX 3060 and RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards. Although we've heard multiple rumors of the graphics cards, Asus is the first Nvidia partner to acknowledge their existence. Apparently, Asus has already added the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 12GB and ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 Ti to its support database. The entries are at the bottom of the drop-down list, suggesting that Asus must have added the graphics card recently. The entries don't lead to anywhere, for now; however, the part numbers do lend credence to some of the rumored specifications that have made their rounds around town. The GeForce RTX 3060 rumors already pointed to the possibility of a 6GB and 12GB model. The ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 12GB seemingly confirms the existence of the 12GB variant. Nvidia's decision to slap introduce 12GB of GDDR6 memory on the GeForce RTX 3060 seems way overkill, considering that the higher-up models, such as the GeForce RTX 3070 and GeForce RTX 3080 perform admirably with their 8GB and 10GB configurations, respectively. It's always handy to have an abundant amount of memory on a graphics card since it allows you to push up into the higher resolutions and enable more eye-candy in games. In the GeForce RTX 3060's case, however, it seems like an unnecessary measure that would just add to the cost of the graphics card. Even the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, the closest relative to the GeForce RTX 3060, does just fine with its 8GB of GDDR6. Fortunately, Nvidia will reportedly offer the GeForce RTX 3060 with a 6GB setup as well, which will likely be the favorite flavor for many mainstream gamers. However, it would have been better if Nvidia had upped it to 8GB since 8GB is pretty much the standard in the contemporary gaming world. The rumors paint the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti as a cut-down version of the GeForce RTX 3090 with less memory and bandwidth. The graphics card reportedly features the same 10,496 CUDA cores but lands with 20GB of GDDR6X memory instead of 24GB. The memory supposedly runs at the same 19.5 Gbps, albeit across a narrower memory interface. Looking like business as usual, Asus will give the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB and GeForce RTX 3080 Ti the ROG Strix treatment. The graphics card will come in both standard and overclocked flavors. However, the Ampere-powered offerings trickle down to Asus' other families of graphics cards, such as the TUF and Dual series.

A free Android emulator for your PC BlueStacks App Player for PC is a desktop emulator software that offers the possibility to play Android games on PC. Although the BlueStacks App player can run any Android app, its features are mainly focused on improving the gaming experience of Android video games in Windows. 00:12 01:05 About BlueStacks App Player for PC This app is intended for conversion from one medium to another. Mobile devices have surpassed desktop and laptop computers in terms of internet connection. In the future, this trend in the difference in use between supports is set to widen. As a result, most people play online video games on their mobile phones. This type of software, known as an emulator, goes back some way. What has happened is that, in recent years, their usage has skyrocketed in parallel with the growth of mobile phone games. This means that the number of available applications has shot up in parallel. The application BlueStacks App Player for PC aims to provide an alternative for moving the game to other devices. This system is designed to be installed on Windows and on any PC. Therefore, this tool is compatible with most desktop devices on the market. Once installed, this software will allow you to run mobile phone games on your computer in full-screen format. There is no loss of graphical quality, in fact, there is an improvement because the size of the screen is larger. This is one of the practical applications of the software. The app is optimised to be used on Android mobile phones and Windows PCs. It should be remembered that these are the two most widely used operating systems. Compatibility between the two types of device is faultless because you can activate Google Play while it's being used. The main advantages of BlueStacks App Player for PC This app has numerous advantages. It's worth knowing what they are so that you can make a decision in keeping with your needs. This application is more useful to keen players than others for the following reasons: Graphical quality The first important aspect is the graphical quality of the platform. This software is prepared to support uncompromising graphics thanks to its Hyper-G graphics quality. Consequently, no quality will be sacrificed by changing the device. This point is important because, sometimes, there are reliability problems with the way graphics turn out. Compatibility with Android The second important element lies in its compatibility with all major Android games. If you download this software, you can play Fortnite Mobile, Hearthstone, Lineage 2: Revolution and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Other new Android games are also supported on the device. In short, there are several playing possibilities for the user. OS settings compatibility It is also necessary to emphasise the compatibility with multiple Operating System (OS) configurations. This tool will allow you to work with configurations of other OSs that do not belong to the one you usually use. The result is that it opens up the field to other applications, because sometimes the tools only run on one OS. Applications in various languages Another aspect that makes a difference is the possibility of working in several languages. This application has an English version, making the work much easier. Gamers who are not adept at languages will find it easier to use this software. Free It's worth remembering that this application is free. There is no charge for use, which will make it easier to emulate games on different platforms. All you have to do is download the application to be able to install it and start playing. Versatility The app is focused on playing games, but this is not its only possible use. Users who need to transfer a job application to make it compatible will be able to do so. It is, therefore, a way of facilitating work when there's a lack of resources. Multitasking Finally, it should be noted that the application allows you to use it while you have other devices open. This is important because you can download items without interrupting the game. Multitasking applications are necessary, and this one fulfills this requirement. How to install BlueStacks App Player The process of using the software is simple, and there is a series of easy steps to follow: The first thing to do is download the latest version of BlueStacks App Player for PC FREE from this site. The process is fast and will provide the user with several possibilities. The main advantage is that no money needs to be spent to make use of this application. Once the software is installed, it is possible to enter Google Play to take advantage of the possibilities on offer. However, you must have a Google Account.

Venetica (Xbox 360 [reviewed], PlayStation 3, PC) Developer: Deck 13 Publisher: dtp Entertianment Released: US January 18th 2011 MSRP: $29.99 The game follows the story of Scarlet who, unbeknown to her, is actually the daughter of death. Following the death of her loved one and the death of herself, she finally meets her father who sends her on one of those long-winded quests to find some mythical object and defeat the bad guy. The story is simplistic, it feels horrifically generic, as though the game had surrendered itself to not even trying. It is hard not to compare games to each other continuously, but when a plethora of RPGs already exist, if a game provides nothing new it will simply fade into obscurity. Venetica does attempt to widen its story by throwing in the whole moral choice thing, but the difference between what is 'right' and what is 'wrong' is so clearcut it feels poorly played out. Despite the simplistic story, the dialog used by both Scarlet and the NPCs is also pretty horrific, it is tragically written, lack luster and I would even call it condescending which in turn makes the characters feel 2D. It is almost impossible to feel anything towards the characters. Early on, the game sees the death of two traveling companions. Naturally, this is supposed to be one of those dramatic moments when you are supposed to feel something, but because the characters lack any development it is actually a relief to no longer have to speak to them. The voice acting also matches the abysmal writing, the moment Scarlet opens her mouth it pretty much sets you up for the rest of the game. The voices end up being a mix and match of stereotypical accents that sound poorly recorded and conversations and chopped together and feel abrupt, they lack a natural flow which makes me want to skip as many conversations as possible. The world of Venetica is colorful and pretty, and there's a distinct Fable feel to it, but it certainly isn't anywhere near as polished as Albion and characters seem to have a few problems interacting with it. Limbs that magically appear through doors or walls, characters use the spaces in-between the ladder to climb up and items chopping through other items, it makes it all feel messy. The environment also lacks good sound, there are times where the game is near silent and other time you are able to catch just a faint hint of music, that makes it feels disappointing as though the sound was an oversight. Some of the sounds effects are also pretty shocking, early on Scarlet takes a little walk past a waterfall and I was utterly convinced that that the TV was broke and spewing white noise at me. The battle system is simplistic - enemies come at you and you hit 'A' to hack and slash. As the character travels through the world, teachers can be found to help Scarlet learn new moves or abilities; from dodge rolls to the summoning of crows. In turn these are mapped to the D-pad and can be switched in and out from the large and overly complicated main menu which is filled with moves, magic, and items. Except they can be annoying to use more than anything. Scarlet could be attacked and you try to block using your mapped D-pad button, but you already got hit which means you can't then block during that enemies combo. You then try to roll out the way but it isn't that responsive, you try again but the camera doesn't auto-follow you so you can't see where you are rolling to and roll into a wall. From there you attempt to move the already skittish camera, loose sight of the battle, realize you have no healing items mapped to the D-pad and then have to dash in and out of the main menu to try and heal yourself. Except you end up getting killed only to realize that the game doesn't autosave and you have to replay that last hour of the game, can't skip any of the cut scenes, need to go through all that condescending dialog and before you know it your controller has gone through the window. I really wanted to like Venetica, but every-time I tried to pick it up to play within a few minutes I would need to put it down because my rage from the sometimes small but continuously nagging faults made my blood pressure rise. It was pretty, but nothing special. I could rattle off a list of better looking RPGs for the Xbox 360 with better battle systems, physics, voice acting, and dialog. Yet, I still want to congratulate Deck 13 on Venetica. A small team of less than 40 have achieved something here, a colorful open world RPG is no small accomplishment. I can't help but feel proud that they wanted to make a game on such a large scale. Maybe they did bite off more than they could chew, but they at least had aspiration. None the less, Venetica's over-ambition is its own downfall. The many imperfections that would be ironed out from larger more successful RPGs have not been attended to rendering the game as frustrating, which is a pity. --------------------------------------------- Game System Requirments -------------------------------------------- Minimum CPU: Intel Pentium® 4 2.4 GHz or equivalent processor CPU SPEED: 2.4 GHz RAM: 1 GB (XP), 1.5 GB (Vista x86), 2 GB (Vista x64) OS: Windows® XP SP2/Vista VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT or higher TOTAL VIDEO RAM: 256 MB HARDWARE T&L: Yes PIXEL SHADER: 3.0 VERTEX SHADER: 3.0 SOUND CARD: Yes FREE DISK SPACE: 10 GB ---------------------------------------- Recommended --------------------------------------- CPU: Intel® Core™2 Duo E8200 2.6 GHz or equivalent processor RAM: 2 GB (XP), 3 GB (Vista) OS: Windows® XP SP2/Vista VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA Geforce 8800 GT or higher TOTAL VIDEO RAM: 512 MB HARDWARE T&L: Yes PIXEL SHADER: 3.0 VERTEX SHADER: 3.0 SOUND CARD: Yes FREE DISK SPACE: 10 GB ---------------------------------- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfnvPZ3oSZY

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(This December 24 story corrects type of Bombardier plane in seventh paragraph) ENTEBBE, Uganda (Reuters) - A 7-year-old Ugandan boy has become a sensation in his country with his precocious display of aircraft knowledge and budding flying skills. Graham Shema has been interviewed on local television and his name is prefixed in newspapers and on social media with “Captain”. Germany’s ambassador and the country’s transport minister have invited him for meetings. A lover of math and science, the student has flown as a trainee three times on a Cessna 172. He says he wants to be a pilot and an astronaut, and someday travel to Mars. “My role model is Elon Musk,” said the boy, a pilot’s white shirt and black slacks hugging his small frame. “I like Elon Musk because I want to learn with him about space, to go with him in space and also to get a handshake.” Musk founded SpaceX and the private rocket company recently launched two Americans into orbit and hopes to one day send humans to Mars. One recent morning at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport, his instructor asked him to explain how the engines worked on a Bombardier CRJ900 plane parked on the tarmac. His voice struggling to rise above the roar of a plane’s running engines, Shema rattled off the answer: “The inlet tubes suck in the air and inject it into the compressor, the compressor squeezes it with the fans, after squeezing it with the fans, it becomes hot,” Shema said, playfully gesturing and proceeding to detail how an engine creates thrust. Slideshow ( 5 images ) Shema’s curiosity for flight was piqued by a freak incident. When he was 3 years old, a police helicopter flew so low to the ground that it blew off the roof of his grandmother’s house on the outskirts of the Ugandan capital Kampala while he was playing outside. “It triggered something in his mind,” said his mother, travel agent Shamim Mwanaisha, 29. Her son began peppering her with endless questions about how planes work, she said. Last year, she contacted a local aviation academy and Shema began lessons at home on aircraft parts and aviation vocabulary. After five months of coursework, Mwanaisha paid for practical flying lessons for her son.

Despite several rumors about its demise, Chevrolet refuses to confirm nor deny anything about the Camaro, but it sure is giving the muscle car a heck of a swan song. In our previous report about the Corvette C8's pricing in Australia, Wheels discussed a tiny bit of news about the Camaro at the latter end of the story. The other go-fast Chevy is said to have been given two more years in its life, with the retirement moved from 2024 to 2026. The Chevrolet Camaro is currently in a tight spot right now in the U.S. market. It isn't really selling well for quite a few years now, always falling behind the Ford Mustang. This year, Chevy only moved 22,226 examples during the third quarter of 2020. Compared to the same period in 2019, that represents a 39.6 percent decline. In comparison, the Mustang sold twice that number during those three months of this slow, dreaded year. As such, we aren't really surprised to hear that Chevy is on the verge of axing the nameplate in a few years without any concrete replacement to follow. Those rumors have been out since 2019, but the Golden Bow Tie isn't letting go just yet with several updates here and there. The report from Australia's Wheels shines a tiny ray of hope for Camaro fans – at least in the Land Down Under. It is returning under GM Special Vehicles (GMSV) in both SS and ZL1 flavor as early as 2021, and the publication seems to be positive about its return moving forward with the muscle car's participation in Supercars Championship in 2022. Take this with a healthy dash of skepticism, though. As I've said, Chevy isn't confirming nor denying anything, but we sure do hope it keeps the nameplate intact within this decade, at least – before the EV takeover.

An Air Canada Boeing 737 Max aircraft has been forced to make an unscheduled landing after developing engine trouble, the airline has said. The plane was en route from the US state of Arizona to Montreal in Canada when it was diverted shortly after take-off, Air Canada said. The plane was carrying three crew members at the time and landed safely. 737 Max aircraft were grounded in 2019 after two fatal crashes, but resumed flying this month after an overhaul. The crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia came within five months of each other and together killed 346 people. The accidents were attributed to flaws in automated flight software called MCAS, which prompted the planes to nosedive. The latest incident happened on Friday. In a statement, Air Canada said the pilots "received an engine notification and, according to the standard operating procedure for such a situation, they decided to shut down an engine" before rerouting to Tuscon, Arizona. According to Belgian aviation news site aviation.be, the crew were alerted to "left engine hydraulic low pressure" followed by "an indication of a fuel imbalance" from the left-hand wing, at which point they diverted. The aircraft, with no passengers on board, was being flown from a storage site. It remains on the ground in Tuscon. 'Boeing played Russian roulette with people’s lives' In the wake of the two crashes, Boeing implemented a series of modifications including updating flight control software, revising crew procedures and rerouting internal wiring. The aircraft resumed passenger flights, in Brazil, less than three weeks ago.

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top-seller. They can help fill out the roster for the Virtual Pro Bowl, which will be played Jan. 31 using Madden video game software and broadcast on ABC and ESPN. Each NFL team has one player on offense designated to be added to the virtual squad. Every touchdown video game players rack up using those player in the Madden game while playing online Head-to-Head matchups (ranked and unranked) will count towards identifying the top scoring players. The AFC and NFC squads will each get one additional player through this Video Game Numbers challenge, which runs Dec. 22 to Jan. 3, 2021. The one AFC player and NFC player will added to this year's Virtual Pro Bowl rosters on January 4. For the full list of 32 eligible players for the challenge go to ea.com/videogamenumbers. The event gives "players a reason to impact what is happening in the real world. I think it is super compelling," said Cam Weber, executive vice president and group general manager at EA Sports. When the National Football League decided to cancel a live Pro Bowl, EA Sports worked with the league on the virtual event. Simulated hockey matchups using the publisher's "NHL 20" video game were televised before the NHL restarted its season and sounds from the game were subsequently used in real games played with no fans in attendance. Sounds from its FIFA game have been used in soccer matches, too. "As things like shelter-in-place started kicking in over the world, not only did we start to see a lot of extra engagement in our games, but this gap in the market where all the major sports leagues around the world were shutting down," Weber said. "Our games were kind of being substituted for awhile, so we really embraced it." Similarly, simulated matches of NBA teams using Take-Two Interactive's NBA 2K21 game were televised and before the baseball season got the OK to start. Sony Interactive's "MLB The Show" conducted a tournament with pro players from each team in the league, while NBA 2K21 held a 16-player tournament of pro basketball players. Video games have become a reliable diversion during the pandemic. From March to August, spending on games rose 30% over last year, according to The NPD Group research firm. And with continued spending increases, a new annual record of $50 billion is likely. And gamers of all ages played and spend more, NPD found, with those aged 45 to 54 playing 59% more and spending 76% more. EA Sports saw increased participation across all of its sports games. Its FIFA games had 12% higher engagement, while NHL 21 had 9% more players. Its UFC 4 game grew by 10% more players. And the publishers mobile sports games have been played by nearly 53 million since Aug. 1. "This crazy year and the pandemic and people spending a lot of time at home that's driven engagement across the video game space," Weber said.

Blood Stone (Xbox 360 [Reviewed], PlayStation 3) Developer: Bizarre Creations Publisher: Activision Released: November 2, 2010 MSRP: $59.99 Blood Stone is not a bad game. It just isn’t a very original one. Everything it tries to do is done better somewhere else. Because of its liberal borrowing from other games, and a penchant to go too far over the top (we're talking some Roger Moore era ridiculousness that doesn’t jive at all with Daniel Craig’s Bond), the game commits an even worse affront than not being original and that is not feeling very Bond-ian. The fun of playing as James Bond comes from playing as James Bond. When a Bond game makes you feel like you’re nothing more than a Bond knock-off, then it absolutely fails as a Bond game. In my mind, this is an unforgivable flaw, and I'm sorry to report that Blood Stone feels far more like a knock-off than the genuine article. This issue is most apparent in the game's plot, which so obviously mimics what a Bond game (book, movie, etc.) should have in it that it ends up feeling more like a bunch of Bond movies stuck together than an original storyline. Bond (after an action packed opening level) is thrust into a suspected bio-weapons ring that he must shut down. With the help of undercover MI6 agent Nicole Hunter he infiltrates the bad guys' plot and then takes them down. There’s actually a bit of a twist at the end that desperately tries to make the story more than it actually is, but the whole thing is already so convoluted that your ability to care is short lived. Sadly, it appears that the plot line was set up to flow over a series of games, so we may be seeing more of this ho-hum story. Caring about what is going on in a Bond vehicle isn’t always that important, though. The action, fights and set pieces are what really stand out. And Blood Stone does have a few very cool sections. The game is divided up into driving and shooting levels. The shooting levels use a cover system, which works well enough and can lead to some great take downs. Melees are actually very cool and trigger some of the cold-hearted kills that Craig's Bond has practically trademarked. Every time you pull off a physical take down you get a "focus shot" that allows you to kill an enemy in a single shot while time slows down. You can chain up to three of these together, which allows for some solid strategic gameplay even if it is fundamentally useless on the whole. I found myself using it once in a blue moon on a normal difficulty setting, and only slightly more often on difficult. In fact, "useless" sums up a lot of the fighting in Blood Stone. By the end of the third level, you’ve pretty much experienced every gun, and the challenges and layouts of levels start to repeat themselves. The enemies act almost the exact same way from level to level, and it’s nearly impossible to detect any real increase in difficulty as the game progresses. Bond runs from shootout to shootout without much drama or action in between. That’s not to say that the game is devoid of some fantastic Bond moments (running away from a giant drill in one early level is especially well done), but it lacks that certain something necessary to feel legitimately Bond. One of the best things EA did in their Bond games was insert tiny little Bond moments that gave the game a little character. Those moments are generally missing from Blood Stone. Instead, you get massive battles on giant gun ships that feel like they should be in Gears of War. Sadly, even if this wasn’t a Bond game and I wasn’t complaining about the lack of Bondness, Blood Stone still wouldn’t be that great of a cover shooter, especially because of the aforementioned repetitive levels and AI. I’ve saved the worst for last, however. In an attempt to mimic Arkham Asylum’s “bat-sense” mechanic, the game uses Bond’s smart phone -- for everything. Whenever you want to get a look at where to go or how the bad guys are organized, you flip out your smart phone and the screen turns green and little icons pop up along with x-ray views of all the enemies. It’s supposed to help you plan your attacks, but thanks to the mediocre AI, it's just annoying. And, like I said, they use the phone for everything. Locked door? Bust out your phone. Need a picture? Take your phone out. Crack a code? You guessed it. In an attempt to make Bond less gadget-y, they simply made him rely on one stupid gadget. Worst of all, Bond actually flips it out whenever he’s using it. This means if you’re using it in the middle of a gun fight you look like an idiot running through a battlefield staring at your cell phone. That might be a petty complaint if the mechanic was interesting at all, but since this "phone gameplay" mechanic has come to symbolize what I dislike the most about Blood Stone, having it crammed down my throat in such an overt way feels even worse than it should. Bizarre Creations, the now defunct developer behind Blood Stone, is most known for their racing games and it clearly shows in Blood Stone. The racing levels stand out above the shooter sections of the game, not just because they’re designed better but because they actually feel like giant action set pieces that Bond might find himself in. Unfortunately, the quality of the driving levels range quite drastically from infinitely boring to incredibly clever. And while the “courses’” designs work sometimes, at other moments, they can be insanely frustrating. The better driving levels feel like something out of Split/Second, with explosions going off everywhere or, to be more specific, a giant dump truck bowling through Bangkok streets as Bond desperately chases it in a tow truck. However, it often seems that too much is going on, and the “courses” aren’t designed well enough to keep you from dying cheaply or falling into hard to see blind spots over and over. To add insult to injury, the final stage is a driving level so mundane that it feels like Bizarre Creations tacked it on simply because the game was too short (and it still is too short, even with this level). It’s also of note that Daniel Craig just looks plain terrible when rendered in this game. Any of the depth and hard edge to his face that I think make him a good Bond are gone. He actually looks a lot like a monkey. The other character renders aren’t too great either, with Dame Judi Dench looking especially frumpy in her digital self. Graphics are obviously not everything, but damn, they sure would have helped in this case. That's compounded by the fact that the game's voice acting is far below par. Craig clearly put a bit more effort into this than he did his GoldenEye performance (which was horrendous) but everything is still flat and careless. Combining a flat face with a flat performance leaves you out in the cold when it comes to story and caring about the game. Surprisingly, the multi-player (which I assumed would just be tacked on because Bond games need multi-player) is pretty fun. This is mostly because it strips off all of the things that aren’t fun in the single-player campaign and delivers a solid cover shooter with some decently designed levels. There’s nothing too fancy about it, and it has all the standard accoutrement, like weapon load outs and a point system that lets you buy better things. Thanks to the lack of bad AI and the removal of the phone, it’s fun to play with some friends. There a few cool modes, like a “last man standing” one that gives the game a bit more spice. My only complaint is that, once again, there isn’t much Bond in it. There is some fun to be had, but unlike GoldenEye’s multiplayer it’s fun you can have with plenty of other games out there. Sadly, there is no split-screen, which is more of a norm nowadays. I had hoped, though, that because it was Bond they’d You may be thinking that I’m coming down hard on the game simply for not being Bond enough, and that’s entirely possible. However, I’d like to stress that even without my problems with the Bond-ness of it all, this is a relentlessly mediocre outing that simply aims to copy instead of improve at every turn. It is strange that Eurocom could nail it so well with GoldenEye, and yet at the exact same time, Bizarre Creations misses the mark in so many ways. If you’re a Bond fan, you’ll be routinely disappointed by Blood Stone, but you’ll probably play it anyway. If you’re not one, then I can’t really stress enough that there are better games out there that don’t crush my hopes and dreams. include it. -------------------------------------- Game System Requirments ------------------------------------- CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E4300 1.80 GHz or AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4000+ 2.0 GHz RAM: 1 GB (Windows XP), 2 GB (Windows Vista and 7) OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT+, GeForce 8600 GT+, GeForce 9600 GS+, GeForce 220+ / ATI Radeon X1650 Pro+, Radeon HD 2600 XT+, Radeon HD 3650+, Radeon HD 4650+ TOTAL VIDEO RAM: 256 MB HARDWARE T&L: Yes PIXEL SHADER: 3.0 VERTEX SHADER: 3.0 SOUND CARD: Yes FREE DISK SPACE: 12 GB --------------------------------

ASUS has confirmed two upcoming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti & the GeForce RTX 3060. Both of these graphics cards are scheduled for launch in early '21 but ASUS has already listed them under their supports and services page. ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 20 GB & GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB ROG STRIX Custom Graphics Cards Confirmed Both graphics cards were spotted by HXL (@9550pro) within ASUS's support and services page for graphics cards. The list includes the GeForce RTX 30 series ROG STRIX variants and also mentions the unreleased GeForce RTX 3080 Ti & GeForce RTX 3060 graphics cards which we talked about in previous leaks. The leak confirms that ASUS is working on both overclocked and non-overclocked variants for their ROG STRIX series. The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will feature 20 GB of GDDR6X memory and the GeForce RTX 3060 will come equipped with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory. Since both of these cards are custom variants, they will be making use of the brand new ROG STRIX cooling solution that we have seen on the existing GeForce RTX 30 ROG STRIX lineup si expect top of the line cooling performance and a beefy custom PCB design. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 'Rumored' Graphics Card Specifications Details from Kopite7kimi suggest that the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FE (Founders Edition) graphics card will feature the PG133-SKU15 PCB design and the GA102-250-KD-A1 graphics core. The GA102-250 GPU has also changed since the last time we saw them and is now exactly the same as the GeForce RTX 3090 at 10496 FP32 CUDA cores. As for memory, the card will feature 20 GB of GDDR6X memory. Unlike the 19.5 Gbps speeds of the RTX 3090, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is said to retain the same memory speeds as the RTX 3080 at 19 Gbps. Since we are getting a 20 GB bus interface, NVIDIA will be using a 320-bit bus interface which equals a total bandwidth of 760 GB/s. TGP for the card is set to be the same as the RTX 3080 at 320 Watts. That's definitely needed to feed the extra cores so NVIDIA might have to optimize the clocks a bit here. NVIDIA could undercut the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT which is a $999 US graphics card with the RTX 3080 Ti though we have to see just how much of a difference the Ti variant makes as it will end up being sandwiched between the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090. There are reports that the RTX 3080 Ti may end up faster than the RTX 3090 due to its higher clock speeds while the RTX 3090 could remain a Titan class product serving the enthusiast and content creation market with its higher VRAM buffer. The GeForce RTX 3060 is suggested to feature the GA106-400 GPU which is expected to feature 3840 FP32 cores in a total of 30 SM units. The graphics card will make use of the PG190 SKU by board partners which are both GA104 and GA106 pin-compatible. The graphics card has seen a range of memory specs update starting with 6 GB (14 Gbps) and now listed at 12 GB (16 Gbps). It is rumored that the card will feature a massive 12 GB memory buffer which is larger than that of the RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070, and even the RTX 3080. This is not confirmed yet but the reason could be that NVIDIA wants to really tackle AMD in the mainstream segment. Again, we saw rumors of 20 GB and 16 GB for the RTX 3080 & RTX 3070 too which didn't end up being true as they were early designs that were later on canceled.