Month: December 2020

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  I still wonder what would have happened if I tried to gun it, but I was a wimp.

Cyberpunk 2077, the first game by CD Projekt Red since 2015's triumphant The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, delivers perhaps the most ambitious open-world facade to date. Open-world games like Grand Theft Auto to Watch Dogs are just facades, after all—giant virtual theme parks that try to get gamers to suspend their disbelief and buy in to fully inhabiting a new world.

CDPR's Night City—its retro-futuristic take on Los Angeles—is a triumph of speculative urban, architectural, and narrative design. It's a truly stunning imagined city of the future that doesn't feel like a scaled-down virtual compromise. Just existing in this space is a joy, whether you're eavesdropping on the citizens going about their day or diving deep into the city's criminal and technological underworld.

But the more you start poking at that facade, the less convincing it seems. The smoothness of the presentation makes it all the more glaring when you run into major holes in the game's simplistic combat, encounter frequent glitches, or reach confusing moments when the conversational or plot paths break down. More often than you'd like, Cyberpunk 2077 leaves you scratching your head.

It's the uncanny valley effect, just extended to an entire city. Cyberpunk 2077 gets so close to utter believability that you can't help but pick out all the inherent video game imperfections.

Enlarge / US President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, listens to Detroit poll worker Jessi Jacobs during an appearance before the Michigan House Oversight Committee on December 2, 2020 in Lansing, Michigan. (credit: Getty | Ray Del Rio)

Rudy Giuliani has been hospitalized in Washington, DC, after testing positive for the pandemic coronavirus and exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19.

The former New York City mayor and personal lawyer for President Trump appeared to confirm he had tested positive for the virus in a tweet late Sunday evening, thanking people for prayers and kind wishes. “I’m getting great care and feeling good. Recovering quickly and keeping up with everything,” he wrote. Trump first broke the news of Giuliani’s infection in a tweet earlier that day.

According to multiple outlets, the 76-year-old has been experiencing symptoms of the disease and is now hospitalized at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington. So far, there is no further information about his condition, and the course of his disease is unclear. Giuliani is considered to be at high risk of the deadly illness due to his age alone.

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  Birds passing in flight as Cargo Dragon 2 launches on its first mission to the ISS on Sunday. [credit: Trevor Mahlmann ]

On Sunday, a thrice-flown rocket took to the skies for the fourth time, lofting a Dragon spacecraft that will ferry a few tons of cargo toward the International Space Station.

This particular Falcon 9 rocket first stage had only made its first flight on May 30, with the historic launch of NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. Six months later, this booster, numbered B1058, was already making its fourth flight into space. A few minutes after launching, the first stage made a successful landing on a drone ship and will likely fly again early next year.

Sunday's launch was the 24th successful one for SpaceX this year—including 23 orbital flights and a demonstration of Crew Dragon's abort system back in January. And the company is not done, as it may launch two or possibly even three more missions this month. Next up for the Falcon 9 is the launch of a large satellite for Sirius XM to geostationary transfer orbit, possibly as early as Thursday.