Month: March 2021

Enlarge / Artist's view of the configuration of Ariane 6 using two boosters (A62) on the ELA-4 launch pad together with the system's mobile launch gantry. (credit: ESA - D. Ducros)

A little more than a week ago, the European Space Agency announced an initiative to study "future space transportation solutions." Basically, the agency provided about $600,000, each, to three companies—ArianeGroup, Avio, and Rocket Factory Augsburg—to study competitive launch systems from 2030 onward.

This initiative would allow Europe to understand and prepare for the future of space launch, said Daniel Neuenschwander, director of space transportation for the space agency. It "lays the foundations that enable us to prepare the future beyond Ariane 6 and Vega-C," he said. "These system concept studies will include services that prioritize the future needs of Europe’s space programs but also allow us to address global market needs."

The implication is that Europe's next generation of rockets, the larger Ariane 6 booster and smaller Vega-C, will meet the continent's launch needs for the next decade. Both of these new rockets, which are evolved from an earlier generation of boosters, are due to make their debut within the next 12 to 18 months.

Enlarge / An image from the censored version of Super Seducer 3 suggests the kinds of "sexually explicit images of real people" that are apparently not allowed on Steam.

Valve has refused to approve controversial pickup artist game Super Seducer 3 for sale on Steam. The company says the game breaks a rule saying that Steam does "not ship sexually explicit images of real people," according to messages posted on Twitter by game creator Richard La Ruina.

La Ruina, who describes himself as a "dating guru" and "the world's top pickup artist," describes the Super Seducer series in press materials as "a humorous full-motion-video (FMV) game where you learn the artistry of sexual attraction." Players do this via choose-your-own-adventure style conversational prompts interspersed with filmed actors showing the over-the-top results of those choices. "I made it with the intention of helping men who are generally shy, introverted, and scared to approach women," La Ruina told The Verge in 2018.

The first game in the series was suspended from Kickstarter and then barred from the PlayStation store back in 2018, but that game and its sequel continue to be available on Steam to this day.

Enlarge / The Galaxy S21 Ultra.

As it turns out, a big price drop is a great way to boost sales. SamMobile has the latest Strategy Analytics numbers and reports that first-month US sales of the Galaxy S21 series have tripled compared to last year.

The Galaxy S20 series arrived last year at MSRPs of $1,000 for the base model, $1,200 for the S20 Plus, and $1,400 for the S20 Ultra. This year, Samsung rolled out a $200 price drop across the lineup, resulting in an $800 base model, $1,000 Plus model, and $1,200 Ultra model. On top of that, Samsung has also been more aggressive about price drops, even in the first month of sales.

We've seen similar reports of an S21 sales increase out of South Korea, too. Galaxy S21 sales have risen 1.5-to-2 times higher in Korea, making the S21 the most popular Samsung device since the Galaxy S8's release in 2017. Samsung UK has touted strong sales, too.