Republicans are pushing to fill the vacancy left by Ruth Bader Ginsburg before November’s election.
Tom Cruise Is Officially Being Shot Into Space, For A Movie
It’s (pretty much) official–Tom Cruise is headed to outer space. The actor, along director Doug Liman, are set to travel to the great beyond in October 2021 aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Details from the Space Shuttle Almanac suggest that pilot Michael Lopez Alegria will take them to space, while the manifest lists an empty spot for another guest.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is coordinating the mission, and of course supplying the rocket, representing Axiom Space. Founded in 2016, Axiom is trying to become the world’s first company to create a commercial space station by attaching its own modules to the International Space Station. You can read more about this at GameSpot sister site CNET.
As Deadline points out, we don’t know yet if the October 2021 flight with Cruise and Liman is a preliminary trip or if it’s the actual flight where they will record scenes for their space movie.
Microsoft’s Purchase Of ZeniMax Gives Them Access To Orion Streaming Tech
Microsoft threw down the gauntlet for next generation recently with their purchase of Bethesda parent company ZeniMax, and in the wake of the deal there’s been a lot of speculation about what it all means for the Xbox Series X. Microsoft has said that this isn’t just about exclusives, and there could be some truth to this–not only with Microsoft benefit from having Bethesda’s games on Game Pass, but they didn’t just pick up games in this sale.
Windows Central has noted that Microsoft’s purchase gives them access to Orion, the streaming tech Bethesda announced at E3 2019. The technology was touted as “a game- and platform-agnostic technology that optimizes game engines for streaming,” but the technology might be less platform-agnostic following this sale.
Orion’s stated goal is to stream games at low bandwidth with high-settings–making accessible the sort of game experiences that are often reserved only for people with powerful PC set-ups. The technology aims to cut latency down and deliver an excellent streaming experience.
EA Will Sell Madden’s Pro Series With Soup, Candy, Razers, And More This Year
EA Sports has announced more details around the Madden NFL 21 Championship Series competitive gaming tournament, but this wasn’t the usual info dump about players, teams, or the league format. Instead, EA specifically announced all of the new and returning sponsors for this year’s event, and they are all over the place.
The Madden NFL Championship Series will have the most sponsors in the league’s history, with almost double the number of ad-buyers compared to last year’s event, EA said in a news release. One of the new sponsors this year is Oakley, which is launching a new gaming glasses line this year called Prizm. These are Oakley’s first glasses–or optical solution, as Oakley calls it–that were designed specifically for gaming.
NFL player Derwin James, who can’t compete on the field this year due to an injury, is participating in a special tournament called Derwin James vs. The World, and he’ll use the new Prizm glasses during his matches. You can watch last week’s event in the video above.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Will Show Off Halloween Seasonal Items Soon
Animal Crossing: New Horizons has received many updates since its launch back in March, with seasonal updates adding new items, mechanics, and challenges to the game. Now, as northern hemisphere players experience fall (while spring has sprung for the southern hemisphere), Nintendo has promised that the next seasonal update is approaching.
A post on Nintendo Canada’s website about upcoming free updates for Switch games, picked up on by Animal Crossing World, has revealed that a fall update is coming soon. “There’s another free update around the corner,” the post reads.
“Be prepared for seasonal in-game events and activities, plus some spook-tacular tricks and treats,” it continues. This makes it pretty clear that the next update will be Halloween-themed.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Online Adds Legendary Bears This Week To Hunt
Rockstar Games has announced what’s new in Red Dead Online this week, and it includes new legendary bears to hunt down, along with a variety of sales and other events.
But we’re mainly here to talk about bears. Two new legendary bears, the Owiza and Ridgeback Spirit bears are now part of the wildlife in Red Dead Redemption 2‘s online mode.
Beware: the Owiza and Ridgeback Spirit Bears have been spotted wandering the riversides of the frontier. Both are aggressive and should only be approached with the utmost caution.https://t.co/quoaOrEL6N pic.twitter.com/zLBLT36Rbb
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) September 22, 2020
The Owiza bear can be found near the Dakota River, and Rockstar warns it is easily aggravated, so be careful. Also of note is that this bear is more active at night, and even more so during heavy rain.
Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia to gradually resume Umra pilgrimage
From 4 October, up to 6,000 citizens and residents will be allowed to undertake the Umra each day.
Alexei Navalny: Russian activist discharged from Berlin hospital
German tests showed the critic of President Vladimir Putin was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.
Nike to make Australia away football kit in female sizes ‘by 2021’
It comes after the football team’s new away kit was revealed last week, but without women’s sizes.
Europe migration: EU to reveal mandatory rules on migration
A new migration pact is set to be announced, but the measures are likely to face some opposition.