February 18, 202512 min readWhere Are the Universes Missing Planets?Planet demographics reveal a puzzling lack of worlds in a certain size range throughout the galaxyBy Dakotah Tyler edited by Clara Moskowitz Ron MillerFor centuries our solar system was the only planetary system known to humans. We had no proof other worlds existed beyond those in our own cosmic backyard, and we imagined that if other planetary systems were out there, they would mirror ours: small, rocky worlds orbiting close to their stars, with giant planets similar to Jupiter and Saturn farther out. Scientists studied the history of our sun and its satellites with all the tools they had, and they used the knowledge they gained to shape our understanding of how planets form and evolve. But about three decades ago astronomers discovered exoplanets circling stars that were not our own. In the years since, we have found thousands of them, shattering what we thought we knew about planets.It turns out that planetary systems in our galaxy exhibit remarkable diversitysome have tightly packed planets in exotic configurations; others are dominated by gas giants skimming their stars. Now a new era of planetary science has emerged: exoplanet demographics. By analyzing patterns in the sizes, orbits and compositions of the planets they detect, scientists are uncovering the real processes that shape planetary systems. What we are finding is not a simple narrative but a puzzle: striking trends in planet populations that challenge our understanding of how planets are born and grow.These trends offer new clues about the answers to fundamental questions: Why are there very few planets in particular size rangesmost notably a swath of missing planets somewhat larger than Earth? Why does our solar system lack the most common types of planets in the galaxythose larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune? And perhaps most important, how do these findings affect our search for habitable worlds?On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Unraveling these mysteries isnt just about studying individual planetsits about seeing the big picture. By investigating the patterns in exoplanet demographics, were learning not only what makes planetary systems tick but also where our solar system fits into this galactic context. Ultimately, we want to know whether our planet is rareor whether the conditions that allowed life to arise here might be plentiful out there.The first confirmed exoplanets were discovered in 1992 orbiting a pulsara radio-wave-emitting, rapidly rotating neutron star formed from the aftermath of a massive star turned supernova. Its still unclear whether these pulsar planets survived the supernova explosion or formed from its debris. In either case, they are outliers in the known exoplanet dataset.The real breakthrough came in 1995 with the discovery of 51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet found orbiting a sun-like star. This world defied all expectations. Rather than a distant gas giant like Jupiter, 51 Pegasi b was a behemoth half the mass of Jupiter but orbiting astonishingly close to its star, whipping around it once every 4.2 days. At such proximity the planet would broil at around 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to vaporize some metals. Although 51 Pegasi b has only about half Jupiters mass, this extreme temperature causes the gas to inflate, giving the planet a radius twice as big as Jupiters. Astronomers dubbed this strange new class of planets hot Jupiters.The existence of hot Jupiters threw a wrench into the leading planet-formation models. Theories had been based on the structure of our solar system, where rocky worlds orbit close to the sun, and gas giants stay much farther out in colder regions where they can accumulate hydrogen and helium gas. But here was a Jupiter-mass world that somehow occupied the searing-hot inner reaches of its planetary system. If massive planets could form so close to their starsor form farther out and move there laterwhat other unexpected arrangements might exist?We want to know whether our planet is rareor whether the conditions that allowed life to arise here might be plentiful.Astronomers discovered 51 Pegasi b by detecting a wobble in its stars motion caused by the gravitational tug of the orbiting planeta technique called the Doppler (or radial velocity) method. As a planet orbits, it pulls its star slightly toward it. From our perspective on Earth, that star moves closer toward and then away from us (if the orbit is at the right angle from our line of sight), causing the stars light to alternately redshift and blueshift, similar to the way the pitch of an ambulance siren rises as it approaches and falls as it passes by. The more massive the planet and the closer its orbit, the greater the stellar wobble and the easier it is to detect.Thats why the first exoplanets found with this method were hot Jupitersand why this strategy has a strong detection bias for large planets in close orbits. As more planets were discovered with the radial velocity method, patterns began to emerge. By 2008, after surveying hundreds of stars, researchers found that about 10 percent of sun-like stars host giant planets within a few times the Earth-sun distance (called an astronomical unit). Yet these early demographic patterns were clouded by our observation biases.A major step forward in planetary demographics came when NASA launched its Kepler Space Telescope. By staring continuously at more than 150,000 stars for four years, Kepler detected thousands of planets, using whats called the transit method. It searched for the slight dimming of a stars light that occurs when a planet passes in front of it from our point of view. The results were startling: Erik A. Petigura, my Ph.D. adviser at the University of California, Los Angeles, analyzed the Kepler data and showed that approximately half of all sun-like stars host at least one planet between Earth and Neptune in size. These planets, which dont exist in our solar system at all, seem to make complete orbits around their stars in weeks or months rather than years. In retrospect, it had been shortsighted to think our solar system was the galactic template. As a rule of thumb in astronomy, however, its usually safe to assume our perspective is average and not special, so I think we can be forgiven.As the Kepler sample grew, a mystery became more and more apparent. Astronomers saw a striking dearth of planets with sizes around 1.6 to 1.9 Earth radii, which they called the radius gap. This finding was no detection-bias flukeafter researchers had accounted for all the selection effects and biases in the observations, the gap remained. Something about planet formation or evolution must actively prevent planets from maintaining this intermediate size, most likely a process that strips atmospheres from planets in this range.Adding further intrigue to this puzzle is a phenomenon known as the hot Neptune desert. Planets the size of Neptune are conspicuously absent on orbits shorter than about three days. The reasons for this scarcity are still under investigation, but extreme radiation from stars at this distance and tidal forces probably contribute to this trend. Just as we see with smaller planets that have masses near the radius gap, short-period Neptunes are especially vulnerable to atmospheric loss. Over time their thick gaseous envelopes may be completely stripped away, leaving behind bare, rocky cores that we might classify as super Earthsscaled-up versions of our rocky world. Scientists think the hot Neptune desert is therefore a more extreme case of the same processes shaping the radius gap. (As we gathered more observations, some theories even predicted these features as a consequence of the radiation streaming from stars.)Nadieh Bremer; Source: The California-Kepler Survey. X. The Radius Gap as a Function of Stellar Mass, Metallicity, and Age, by Erik A. Petigura et al. in Astronomical Journal, Vol. 163; March 2022 (data)Follow-up radial velocity observations with ground-based telescopes added another crucial piece to the puzzle. By measuring the masses of known exoplanets, astronomers found that the radius gap corresponds to a transition in composition. Planets with masses below the gap are dense and rocky like Earth, whereas those above it have lower densities, indicating substantial atmospheres. The smaller planets appear to be super Earths. The larger ones are mini Neptunes with rocky cores enshrouded by thick layers of hydrogen and helium.This demographic pattern poses fundamental questions. Do all small planets start with substantial atmospheres, and do some lose them over time? Or do they form with different compositions from the beginning? Recent observations of planets actively losing their atmospheres suggest gas loss plays a significant role.Astronomers think there are several processes that can rip atmospheres off planets or limit their formation in the first place. The two leading contenders are photoevaporation and core-powered mass loss. Together they may explain the radius gap and the hot Neptune desert.Photoevaporation is one of the best explanations for the radius gap. When young stars ignite, they unleash extreme ultraviolet and x-ray radiation, along with powerful winds of charged particles. Planets that orbit too close to their host stars find themselves bathed in this radiation, which heats their atmospheres to the point where particles can escape into space.Imagine two newly formed planets orbiting at the same distance from their respective stars, each starting with a rocky core and a substantial hydrogen-helium gas envelope. Planet A has a lower mass and weaker gravity, so it cant hold on to its atmosphere as the star pumps energy into it. It quickly loses all its gas to space and becomes a dense, rocky super Earth. When we observe this system, the atmosphereless planet appears smaller in size. Planet B, however, has a higher mass and stronger gravity, which allows it to retain most of its atmospheric envelope. When we observe this system, the planet appears large because of its light and puffy primordial cocoon.The photoevaporation theory makes several predictions that match observed patterns. For example, the radius gap should slope downward with orbital period because planets closer to stars experience more intense radiation and need to be more massive to survive with their atmospheres intact. Similarly, we see a lack of Neptune-size planets with orbits shorter than three days, the so-called hot Neptune desert. This region is where atmospheric escape is so efficient that only rocky cores can survive.The second mechanism for the disappearance of planet atmospheres is core-powered mass loss, which is caused by the heat generated within a planet. After planets form, they hold on to significant amounts of heat from the process of pulling mass into themselves. This residual internal energy can warm the base of the atmosphere as the planet cools, lifting up the primordial envelope from below and helping gas to escape, along with the pull from stellar radiation.Our solar system, once thought to be the blueprint for all planetary systems, now stands as just one of countless possibilities.Core-powered mass loss suggests that smaller and less massive planets, with weaker gravity and less insulating gas, lose their atmospheres from below as they cool over hundreds of millions of years. Larger planets, in contrast, have enough gravitational strength to retain their envelopes despite the internal heating. This mechanism also aligns with the radius gap, given that intermediate-size planets are most susceptible to atmospheric loss through this process.Ultimately, hot planets cool off, and stellar irradiation heats up atmospheres. Astronomers think both mechanisms are at work, but the jury is still out on which theory has its thumb pressed more heavily on the planetary-evolution scale. Its likely the outcome depends on the specific conditions of the planet in question.Other processes may also contribute. The rapid boil-off theory, for instance, posits that during a planets early years, shortly after its star has formed, the debris disk circling the starwhich contains the raw ingredients that were used to build the planetsgets cleared out. The resulting rapid drop in pressure around the planet may drive a sudden boil-off phase for its atmosphere.In other cases, planets may form in gas-poor environments. These worlds would naturally lack thick atmospheres from the start, leading to a rocky composition. Finally, massive impacts between young planets could strip away their atmospheres, leaving behind bare, rocky cores in whats called collisional stripping. Although this process is probably rare, it may explain some planetary populations.Recent observations have begun to catch some of these situations in action, providing direct evidence of atmospheric escape. Because planets are most likely to let go of mass when theyre young, most small planets we can observe arent undergoing significant loss. There is, however, a favorable scenario for observing an atmosphere escaping in real time: a gas giant on a close-in orbit, also known as a hot Jupiter.A compelling example is the planet WASP-69b, which my group observed using the telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. WASP-69b is a Jupiter-size, Saturn-mass gas giant orbiting so close to its star that a full trip around it takes the planet only 3.8 days. In a paper we published in 2024, we reported outflows of material around the planet that indicate it is actively losing helium. In this case, the mass-loss mechanism must be photoevaporation. The planet is too massive to lose mass to internal heating; instead its getting blasted with high-energy radiation from its host star. Our observations revealed that WASP-69b is losing about 200,000 tons per second, or one Earth mass per billion years. Furthermore, there have been dramatic variations in the shape of the outflow of escaping gas: sometimes it has a cometlike tail stretching over 350,000 miles, and at other times it appears far less prominent.This variability in outflow probably stems from changes in the host stars activity. Much as our sun cycles through periods of heightened and decreased activity during its magnetic cycle, stars can experience periods of more or less intense radiation and flaring. Stretches of heightened stellar activity might boost atmospheric escape rates and change the shape of any material rushing off the planet. This dynamic interplay between star and planet illustrates that atmospheric loss may not be a steady, uniform process even in more mature planets. Rather its an ongoing battle shaped by both the properties of the planet and the mood of its star.Our findings and others show how photoevaporation can help explain both the radius gap and the hot Neptune desert by demonstrating this mass-loss process in real time. For a given orbital distance, planets require a minimum mass to hold on to their atmospheres amid the onslaught of high-energy stellar radiation. The radius gap separates the planets that are massive enough from those that are not. The hot Neptune desert demonstrates how this concept is amplified as a planet gets nearer to the star and the stellar irradiation increases exponentially. At sufficient proximity to a star, only hot Jupiters have the mass required to retain an atmosphereall other planets get stripped to their bare, rocky core.The next decade should be an exciting stage for refining our understanding of planetary demographics. Although most astronomers agree that atmospheric mass loss is the primary reason we dont see slightly bigger Earths or hot Neptunes on close orbits, the finer details remain unresolved. Is photoevaporation, driven by stellar radiation, the dominant factor? Or does core-powered mass loss, fueled by a planets internal heat, play a larger role? Untangling the contributions of these mechanisms requires a new generation of telescopes and instruments capable of precisely measuring planetary masses, compositions and atmospheres.We hope to better understand how the radius gap depends on stellar type. For low-mass stars, such as M dwarfs, the radius gap appears to shiftsmaller planets around these stars are able to retain atmospheres more often because they are exposed to less radiation than larger stars put out. The radius gap is usually less defined because low-mass stars put out different kinds of radiation than larger stars. The planets around these stars also tend to have greater core-composition diversity, and these systems may have an increased rate of major collisions.Planets around M dwarfs also tend to orbit much closer, where stellar activity such as flares and winds can have a big effect on atmospheric retention. Close inspection of these worlds has revealed hints that some of them might harbor significant amounts of water, potentially in the form of deep global oceans underneath hydrogen-rich atmospheres. These water worlds would occupy a unique position in planetary demographics, challenging simple models of rocky super Earths and gas-rich mini Neptunes.New ground-based instruments such as the Keck Planet Finder, which recently went online at the Keck observatory, and other high-precision radial velocity tools will be indispensable in testing our theories. By enabling us to measure planetary masses across a wide range of star types, these advances will help us determine whether the masses of super Earths and sub Neptunes align with predictions from our various models. In multiplanet systems, these kinds of data can help disentangle the effects of stellar irradiation history, allowing researchers to compare planets that formed under similar conditions.NASAs Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission is conducting extended monitoring over long timescales that could reveal planets with slightly wider orbits around their stars than most known worlds have. By filling out this sparsely populated region of small exoplanets with longer orbital periods, these discoveries will provide crucial data for understanding how atmospheric loss and composition vary across a broader range of planetary environments.The big leap forward should come when some big-ticket telescopes come online in the next decades. Ground-based super telescopes, such as the European Southern Observatorys Extremely Large Telescope, are expected to see first light in the late 2020s. These instruments will excel at observing young, luminous planets still glowing with the heat of their formation. Such gigantic telescopes will offer critical insights into the chaotic early stages of planetary evolution, when atmospheres are most vulnerable to loss.The Habitable Worlds Observatory, a NASA flagship space telescope, is planned to launch in the 2040s. It is being designed to detect and study Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of sun-like stars. The aim is to use the observatory to directly image these worlds and analyze their atmospheres to search for signs of oxygen, methane and water vaporkey indicators of habitability.What we learn from all these new tools will reach far beyond planetary demographics. By studying how planets lose or retain their atmospheres, we are unlocking the secrets of habitability, diversity and the forces that sculpt worlds across the galaxy.Our solar system, once thought to be the blueprint for all planetary systems, now stands as just one of countless possibilitiesa unique configuration in a cosmos teeming with variety. Most stars host planets unlike anything in our cosmic neighborhood, reminding us that the universe is richer and more surprising than we have imagined. By untangling the forces that shape these distant worlds, we inch closer to answering some of humanitys oldest questions: How common are planets like Earth? Is there other life among the stars? And what does our place in this vast and intricate universe truly mean?

Astro Bot gets a PS5 Pro update bringing PSSR, new levels and some subtle tweaksImage quality does improve - but to what extent?Image credit: Sony Face-off by Oliver Mackenzie Contributor Additional contributions byWill JuddPublished on Feb. 18, 2025 Astro Bot has received a patch for PS5 Pro, version 1.012, promising "an improved version" of the game on the console at "a constant best resolution" at 60fps - but what does it actually do? That was what we wanted to answer on this week's DF Direct, and the explanation is a little more complex than than the tweak to dynamic resolution than we expected. In short, the game now looks to be using PSSR, PlayStation Spectral Resolution. This upscaler replaces the previous TAA and delivers better image quality in most - but not all - scenarios by targeting a 4K output resolution. That mix of fortunes is more or less par for the course when it comes to PS5 Pro upgrades, with some titles and scenes particularly suiting the technique (eg Final Fantasy Rebirth) and others not so much (eg Star Wars Jedi: Survivor). Aliasing here tends to be improved in still shots, and PSSR tends to look sharper in more scenarios - whereas the TAA approach could result in sharper or softer images depending on the complexity of the scene, differences that could occasionally be noticeable. Watch on YouTubeScreen space reflections (SSR) also look a little worse with the PSSR approach, likely down to PSSR's somewhat less elegant approach to denoising, though there's not a huge margin between the two patch versions. Ultimately, the new version with PSSR does look better most of the time, with less aliasing and a sharper resolve, with the noise that we spotted in some scenes being somewhat hard to make out a traditional TV viewing distance. That's despite the new approach resulting in lower internal resolutions, with testing of three shots showing drops from 1872p to 1368p and 2160p to 1872p on the new patch. The PSSR technique has an additional cost versus standard TAA, so this accounts for the difference in resolution. Performance remains at a locked 60fps, so there's no change there. Shot 1Shot 2Shot 3PS5 Pro Patch 1.0111872p2160p2160pPS5 Pro Patch 1.0121368p1872p1872pTo see this content please enable targeting cookies. Finally, we did see some changes in how distance shadow maps were sometimes presented on the new patch. This could be due to a difference in filtering or resolution, with the results in the new patch tending to look softer but less aliased relative to the prior patch. Beyond the technical changes, the update also adds a new galaxy and a new challenge level, with the plan being for further four challenge levels to be added to the game over the next few weeks. Of course, these are not exclusive to PS5 Pro - they're just part of the continued roll-out of new content.Overall, it's great to see that Astro Bot continues to receive attention post-launch, and of course the addition of PSSR makes a lot of sense given that this is one of the biggest selling points of the PlayStation 5 Professional.

A pro skater has claimed he will appear in a yet-to-be-announced remastered Tony Hawk video game. Read more

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Marvel Rivals has seen regular updates ever since the games full release in December. From cosmetics to tweaks to the games mechanics and more, Marvel Rivals keeps evolving. This makes all of us excited for whats next on the horizon, watching without blinking for anything new. With the mid-season patch around the corner, we finally have a few interesting teases for whats to come some expected, some surprising, but all welcome.First sneak peek at Human Torch and The ThingAs many fans have speculated, the new mid-season update will be released on February 21. With it, well finally gain access to Human Torch and The Thing to round out the Fantastic Four roster. Weve all seen the still images and artwork, but thanks to leaks from Miller Ross on X, we have now seen them in their in-game glory. Johnny Storm, aka Human Torch, got a fiery intro animation. Similarly, watching The Things intro animation simply screams Its clobberin time!We have already seen some of their abilities. For example, as a Duelist, Human Torch can deal a lot of AoE damage, which is in line with his fiery powers. We went through all of them in our dedicated article here. On the other hand, Ben Grimm, aka The Thing is a Vanguard, meaning his job is to tank for his team. From what weve explored in this article, his abilities revolve around durability and, as expected, clobberin his enemies with powerful punches. Save Up to $1,200 on the Samsung Galaxy S25! Pre-order now and save big with trade-in and Samsung credit. Limited time only! *Includes trade-in value + $300 Samsung credit. Theres even more coming in the Season 1.5 updateBut thats not all. A new map is coming to the game, called Empire of Eternal Night: Central Park. Dark and moody, with twisted trees, a gothic look, and a blood moon to round it out, this map simply looks amazing in its teaser. We are yet to find out whats the layout for its lanes and points, however. The maps game mode is still debated among fans, so well have to wait a bit longer to find out the rules on the spooky new map.The mid-season update will also add new Competitive mode rewards, which include a special skin for Human Torch called Blood Blaze. This one will be available for anyone who reaches the rank of Gold and above. As before, other rewards include progressively fancier icons, as we can see from this leak. Must-Listen: Publishing Manor Lords w/ Joe Robinson VideoGamer Podcast Listen Now Last but not least, a small but welcome tweak is coming to competitive mode. In essence, once you reach the rank of Diamond 3 or above, you can opt to hide your username in competitive until shortly after the match begins. This is a welcome quality-of-life change that you can opt into, especially if you seem to run into the same people at higher ranks and would rather avoid issues like targeted bans of your preferred hero. Trust us, people will remember your picks if they face you more often, so this feature can prevent that, among other things.As stated, we wont have to wait long to see these new superheroes, changes, and the new map implemented into the game. The Season 1.5 update is just a few short days away.Marvel RivalsPlatform(s):macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Fighting, ShooterRelated TopicsMarvel Rivals Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Contents hide As the biggest hero shooter right now, Marvel Rivals has kicked Overwatch to the curb. With new competition, the team behind Blizzards genre-defining shooter have been refreshed as NetEases new superhero game lights a fire beneath the studio.Speaking to GamesRadar, Overwatch game director Aaron Keller explained that Blizzard is now in a new competitive landscape with the arrival of Marvel Rivals. With tens of millions of players enjoying the popular free-to-play game, Overwatch now needs to rapidly improve to keep its own fanbase.Marvel Rivals lights a fire under OverwatchTalking to the outlet, Keller explained that the current landscape has pushed the Overwatch team to work harder than ever before. After years of slow updates and stagnant gameplay, the team behind the project is working at full speed on long-awaited improvements. Save Up to $1,200 on the Samsung Galaxy S25! Pre-order now and save big with trade-in and Samsung credit. Limited time only! *Includes trade-in value + $300 Samsung credit. Were obviously in a new competitive landscape that I think, for Overwatch, weve never really been in before, to this extent where theres another game thats so similar to the one that weve created, Keller said.Keller explained that the massive popularity of Marvel Rivals is really great and exciting for the team as it allows them to stop playing it safe with new updates. Now, theres an urgency to improve and keep Overwatch alive. Must-Listen: Publishing Manor Lords w/ Joe Robinson VideoGamer Podcast Listen Now Theres actually something kind of exciting about this, for a few reasons. Keller explained. [Marvel Rivals is] forcing function to our team this is no longer about playing it safe.In the interview, Keller claimed that there is now a lot of pressure on the Overwatch team, but that a lot of it is internal. With the next season bringing upgradable perks, a third-person mode, the return of lootboxes and a lot more, its very obvious that Blizzard is cooking huge overhauls of the game in response to the success of Marvel Rivals.For Marvel Rivals, developer NetEase Games is bringing a new hero to the game every month and a half. With The Thing and Human Torch coming to the game very soon, as well as new maps, events and more, the new superhero game is continuing to go hard on new content.OverwatchPlatform(s):Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox OneGenre(s):Action, Casual, First Person, Massively Multiplayer, Shooter9VideoGamerSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Surprise new tracking goes live.Jaap Arriens/NurPhotoGoogle Chrome users are being tracked. Last years decision to resurrect tracking cookies triggered a privacy storm, as did alleged data collection from private browsing sessions. But Googles planned new upgrade should fix this once and for all. Dont get too excited, though. Theres a nasty new tracking surprise that has just gone live.First to the good news. Tracking cookies will finally be killed by a one time global prompt upgrade, giving Chrome users an Apple-like choice between being tracked and (more likely) not being tracked. All good, albeit the timing is unclear and the industry seems worried that this may unfairly advantage Google, given its own account tracking. As such we await the inevitable regulatory green light and potential delays.But while thats a good privacy move, the surprising update thats just gone live seems to be bad news for those same users benefiting from a one-time global prompt. Were talking digital fingerprinting, which Google prohibited as wrong in 2019 but has now resurrected. As of February 16th, fingerprinting has also been expanded to track all your devices such as smart TVs and gaming consoles, providing a rich new seam of your data for the advertising industry to mine.Privacy campaigners have called Googles new rules on tracking people online a blatant disregard for user privacy, BBC News reported this weekend, citing Mozillas Martin Thomson warning that Google has given itself - and the advertising industry it dominates - permission to use a form of tracking that people cant do much to stop.The UKs data regulator explains that fingerprinting involves the collection of pieces of information about a devices software or hardware, which, when combined, can uniquely identify a particular device and user, echoing Thomsons warning that even privacy-conscious users will find this difficult to stop.Google says that the reversal reflects a new device landscape, with smart devices enabling a broader range of surfaces on which ads are served, while telling BBC News that privacy-enhancing technologies offer new ways for our partners to succeed on emerging platforms... without compromising on user privacy.There was little furor when Google announced this change in December, as I reported at the time. But with it now live, there has been more of a pushback and it remains unclear how regulators will respond. French data regulator CNIL, for example, has warned that the use of fingerprinting for advertising purposes requires the consent of users who must be able to refuse as simply as accept.Meanwhile, Google says we continue to give users choice whether to receive personalized ads, and will work across the industry to encourage responsible data use." Only time will tell what happens next as all our devices start reporting back. Clearly Google and the regulators cant both be right. For the time being, fingerprinting cant be stopped. We will need to see a mandatory opt-out to change that.Chrome users are left with the irony of a simultaneous good move on tracking cookies and a bad move on fingerprinting. The ad industry needs your data, and that is unlikely to change. I have reached out to Google to ask whether an opt-out may come after all.

Sulthing DifferentFallout New Vegas is being re-created in The Sims 2, so I assume we're not long from seeing Mr House's monitor be chucked in a pool by some pesky step-deleting courierVulpes Inculta apparently likes having a kick about with ghouls, the more you know.Image credit: Obsidian/EA/FalloutPropMaster News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on Feb. 18, 2025 Ok, so there've been crap tonne of projects which have aimed to bring some of one Fallout game into another Fallout game, but now someone's trying to re-create the best Fallout game to a medium that makes even more sense - The Sims 2. Enter The Sims 2: New Vegas, a fan-made 'Remaster' that if nothing else looks like yet another great example of good things happening when Fallout fans get bored.This is a work-in-progress thing with its own dedicated subreddit spotted by TheGamer, where Baron Pulitzer - who goes by the handle FalloutPropMaster and looks to be the owner of an independent film production company by day - has been documenting their progress for about a week now.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "I've gotten impatient waiting for a remastered version of Fallout: New Vegas," they wrote in their intro post, "My dream is to have a remaster that also allows us to revisit some cut content that existed during the in-house Beta of Fallout: New Vegas."After finding a few uploads by user 'lilipad' on ModTheSims of a couple of casinos on the New Vegas Strip for The Sims 2, it inspired me to try and remake New Vegas in The Sims 2 to the best of my abilities. I have modded Fallout 3 and New Vegas in the past, but never the Sims, so I will also take this opportunity to learn."Over the past week, I have been able to revisit some programs I used over a decade ago (Milkshape, FOMM, Blender, Nifscope and others), and not only is that a wonderful and bleak blast of nostalgia, but also something new to do with my free time." Bringing Some Familiar Characters Together Before Testing out some new UI and Menus! byu/FalloutPropMaster inTheSims2NewVegasTo see this content please enable targeting cookies.Thus far, they've shown off the likes of them starting to plot out where different buildings will go in their Mojave Wasteland neigbourhood that'll naturally include The Strip and Freeside, as well as their re-creation of Goodsprings' Prospector Saloon - because where else would you start with this kind of project?They've also been working on some characters. There are a couple of shots of everyone's favourite Legion wolf hat guy Vulpes Inculta just chilling with a couple of ghouls and then playing kickball with them, as well as a household of companions who're no doubt bonding over sharing stories of a certain postman casually using them as bullet sponges while running away to inject 50 stimpaks at once.The latest shot also shows off a revamped version of TS2's UI that's very classic Fallout, which is cool.So, something to keep an eye on, especially if you're currently enjoying dipping back into The Sims 2 via the Legacy Collection remaster and have somewhow ended up craving another trip through the Mojave as a cannibal whose aim is to eat Mr House, accidentally become vilified while trying to chomp on some Caesar salad, and then go the independent Vegas route because you're worried the NCR will give you weird looks.

Part Of The TeamCharlie Cox would love for Daredevil to get the "upgrade" of appearing in Avengers Doomsday or Secret Wars, though you have to wonder if he's just saying that to throw us off the scentLiving up to his name.Image credit: Netflix/ Marvel News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Feb. 18, 2025 Daredevil as a character can't exactly keep up with the likes of Thor, but Charlie Cox is still interested in appearing in the next Avengers movies.Despite being quite a popular character, Daredevil has obviously had a bit of a weird go of it, given that he's had a popular Netflix series that eventually got canned, before winding up officially in the MCU through Spider-Man, making a cameo in She-Hulk that apparently won't matter that much, before now finally getting his own show again in the upcoming Born Again. With how popular the Netflix series was, I doubt Daredevil will be getting his own film anytime soon, but he could always appear in one of the movies, and as actor Charlie Cox shared in a recent interview with GQ, he thinks it's "more possible than its ever been."To see this content please enable targeting cookies. The actor went on to share that he would "love to be in one of the Avengers films, or another Spider-Man, or something like that. For a couple of reasons. One, because over the years I have become a geeky fan of the character, and I weirdly, for the characters sake, feel like itd be really cool for him to get that kind of upgrade." That second reason is apparently a bit more personal, with Cox saying that he would "also just love it in terms of what it would do for my chances of getting other movie roles."Cox goes on to talk about how despite some successes along the way he's never quite made it into the big, big time, Daredevil being one of the biggest projects he's been a part of, noting that he's "always had to convince people." Seeing as people love him as the man without fear, so much so that he also reprised his role as the character in the animated, alternate timeline series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, I imagine very few would need convincing to see him in Doomsday or Secret Wars.Of course, his appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home was meant to be a bit of a surprise, so his comments about hoping to appear in an Avengers film could just be a way of making us think he won't be in the next couple. Shoot dates have been roughly set for both Doomsday and Secret Wars, so perhaps it's only a matter of time before we find out if Daredevil will be around to help out in either of them.

Image: Nintendo LifeEver since Nintendo gave us our first official look at the Switch 2 (even before, if you were paying attention to the leaks), we have been wondering what that mysterious new USB-C port on the top of the console is for.Logic would suggest that it's for charging in tabletop mode something that we haven't been able to do with any 'Switch 1' model so far but last week's patent which showed the console working when flipped upside down had us (and the rest of the internet, it seems) wondering if the original, lower port might be the real star of the show.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube796kWatch on YouTube Boasting far more creativity than we could dream of having, Reddit user jard_dog took to the r/NintendoSwitch2 group to share a very impressive-looking concept render, showing a dream design for the flipped console and its multiple ports.As you'll see in the video below, the poster imagines that the main purpose for attaching the Switch 2's Joy-Con the other way around would be to make the most of the sturdy casing around the now-top USB-C port for accessory attachments. These attachments could be anything (a fishing rod peripheral, most likely) but the render imagines it in the coolest way possible by demonstrating a second screen attachment for huge DS play on Switch 2.If that (and the jump scare appearance of 'Tomodachi Life 2') wasn't enough to pique your interest, the concept video then showcases a webcam attachment in the port instead now just imagine the WarioWare minigame potential there.Okay, we'll get our head out of the clouds and come back down to reality. Yes, the concept is a very unlikely one, and we struggle to imagine Nintendo ever going ahead with something so flimsy and blatantly reliant on additional purchases... That said, we're now looking over at our current Joy-Con, and that last comment is quickly losing steam.Look, we can but dream. With patents for flippable screens, mouse controllers and "predictive inputs", we are almost just as in the dark about Switch 2 today as we were before Nintendo showed us the damn thing. The 2nd April Direct will shed some light on all of these rumours, surely and we'd be lying if we said there wasn't a little dual-screen dream in our hearts now. Dual-screen dilemmaFlippin' 'eckSqueakerWhat do you make of this dreamy concept render? Do you want to see the return of dual-screen gaming on Switch 2? Let us know in the comments.[source reddit.com]See AlsoShare:00 Jim came to Nintendo Life in 2022 and, despite his insistence that The Minish Cap is the best Zelda game and his unwavering love for the Star Wars prequels (yes, really), he has continued to write news and features on the site ever since. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesSwitch 2 Units Are Reportedly Selling For $40,000 On The Chinese Black MarketOr $50 trade-in at GameStopRandom: Want To Play Smash Bros. Melee On The Train? Amtrak Is Fine With That"Go ahead and bring that extra CRT"Random: Someone's Created A Motorised Mario Kart LEGO SetAnd it's stunning

Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo LifeWhen Sony launched the PS1 in 1994, Nintendo suffered one of its biggest losses when Squaresoft, a company that previously became almost synonymous with Nintendo consoles, chose to release its games on the PS1 instead of the N64.In fact, according to a new interview from Sony veteran Shuhei Yoshida by VentureBeat (thanks, Go Nintendo), Squaresoft initially tried to convince Nintendo to adopt CD-ROMs for the N64 instead of cartridges, with Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi especially keen to utilise the technology.Alas, Nintendo didn't budge, and so Squaresoft moved Final Fantasy over to the PS1, while Enix followed suit with Dragon Quest.Here's what Yoshida had to say:"Our goal was to get all the major games in Japan to come to the PlayStation. At the time there were two big teams working with Nintendo, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. For the Japanese audience, those were the most popular games. When a new one came out you had long lines of customers waiting to buy them. It made the national news when a new Dragon Quest came out. There was controversy over kids calling out sick from school to stay home and play games."Of course, initially they werent interested. They were close to Nintendo. But Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy, loved the potential of CDs. His dream was to create a movie-like Final Fantasy game. He was disappointed when he learned that the Nintendo 64 still used cartridges. His movies couldnt fit there."Squaresoft tried to convince Nintendo to change that plan, but they wouldnt. They didnt believe in CD-ROM at all. Thats why they licensed the Super Nintendo add-on project to Sony in the first place, because they believed CD-ROM was just too slow to ever make for a good game system."Of course, you'll likely know the story by now, but Nintendo and Sony came very close to partnering on a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES before Nintendo famously got cold feet at the last minute. Despite attempts to repair the subsequent rift between the two companies, Sony eventually abandoned development of the add-on to produce its own console, the PlayStation.These days, Square Enix games can be found on many different platforms, with the company committing to multiplatform releases of its major titles in the future. Still, it's interesting to see just how much impact Nintendo's decision with the N64 had on Squaresoft back in the day. PauseStationShmup and overDo you think Nintendo should have adopted CD-ROM technology with the N64, or did it make the right decision to utilise cartridges? Let us know your thoughts with a comment.[source venturebeat.com]Share:02 Nintendo Lifes resident horror fanatic, when hes not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesMetroid Prime First 4 Figures 'Samus Phazon Suit' Sneak Peek, Pre-Orders Open SoonUpdate: Here's a teaser of the light-up collector's editionNintendo Is Discontinuing Gold Points, One Of The Switch's Best IncentivesNoooo, don't do it!Switch 2 Units Are Reportedly Selling For $40,000 On The Chinese Black MarketOr $50 trade-in at GameStopHideki Kamiya Wants Nintendo To Reboot Virtual Console For Switch 2Not a fan of Switch Online, huh?98 Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo's 'Play On' eShop Sale (Europe)Every game we scored 9/10 or higher