Cyberpunk 2077 Doesn’t Play Well With AMD CPUs, But There’s A Workaround

Cyberpunk 2077 hasn’t had the smoothest launch, and for some PC players the problem has been exacerbated by the game’s issues with certain components. Right now, players AMD CPUs are having issues with performance–but there’s a way to improve things.

A Reddit thread has discovered a fault with the game, whereby it only recognizes physical cores on AMD chips, not logical cores. While Intel CPUs face no issue, AMD users can see enormous performance drops.

Thankfully, all you’ll need to do to rectify the issue is change a single line through a Hex Editor. PC Gamer has a great guide on how to do this, recommending freeware HxD as the editor to use.

Once you’ve done that, open the Cyberpunk 2077 executable file in the program, and do a Ctrl+F search for the following Hex-values tab:

75 30 33 C9 B8 01 00 00 00 0F A2 8B C8 C1 F9 08

Change that 75 to an “EB” and save the changes, and your problems should be solved. Hopefully a patch will come soon to eliminate the need to do this, though.

The first major patches for Cyberpunk 2077 dealt with seizure-inducing light displays, copyrighted music issues, and some bugs, but more are surely on the way. If you’re playing on Xbox One or PS4, there’s no easy fix for the game’s troubling launch state, which CD Projekt Red has apologized for.

For more on the game, be sure to check out our full Cyberpunk 2077 review.

Now Playing: Cyberpunk 2077 Review

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The Mortal Kombat Movie Release Date Confirmed, Trailer Coming Early 2021

After numerous delays and production upsets related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mortal Kombat movie has a release date. Director Simon McQuoid’s film will be available to watch on April 16, 2021.

The news comes via producer Todd Garner, who released a new poster featuring the release date. He also promised that a first-look trailer would arrive “in the new year.”

For a while, it seemed like Mortal Kombat would still be a cinema-only release, and while it will come to cinemas, it’s also going to be on HBO Max from day one–as with all 2021 Warner Bros. releases.

Back in late 2019, the film’s release date was set for January 15, 2021–and compared to many other films, its eventual COVID-19 delay was much less severe.

The Mortal Kombat film was shot in Adelaide, South Australia. It won’t be the first Mortal Kombat film, with the first releasing in 1995 and still being a lot of fun (the same can’t necessarily be said for 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation).

Now Playing: Mortal Kombat Movie 25th Anniversary: 25 Must-Know Facts

Cyberpunk 2077: How To Get Skippy, The Talking Gun

There are many, many weapons in Cyberpunk 2077. The most special of these are called Iconic weapons: unique, custom weapons that are a step above the ones you’ll find on any old corpse. These come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but none is as distinctive and full of personality as Skippy, the talking smart pistol.

Ostensibly based on Microsoft’s Clippy, the pop-up paperclip that used to help us with Word documents, Skippy is an AI-operated smart pistol. A shot from a smart gun will automatically seek targets mid-air, which is as useful as it sounds. Normally, you need cyberware in your hands that will enable you to use smart weapons; however, a major advantage to Skippy is that it doesn’t require cyberware to use.

To find Skippy, head to a back alley in the Glen, southeast of Corpo Plaza. See the map in the image below to pinpoint the area.

The location of Skippy in Cyberpunk 2077.
The location of Skippy in Cyberpunk 2077.

Skippy is a unique weapon for a lot of reasons, the least of which is the waived cyberware requirement. Skippy offers a choice between automatic headshots or nonlethal limb shots, the latter of which is called “Puppy Loving Pacifist mode.” It’ll also jam from time to time, prompting Skippy to make a comment about how this has never happened before–if you know, you know.

Skippy is one of an assortment of Iconic weapons available in Cyberpunk 2077. Check out our full Iconic weapon guide for details on how to locate even more Iconic weapons so you can improve your stash and your lethality. Also be sure to read our Cyberpunk 2077 review, and check out our essential tips, character attributes and build guide, romance guide, life path guide, and guide for making money quickly and easily in Night City for more tips.

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Pokemon Go Holiday 2020 Event Announced, Adds Vanillite, Shiny Jynx, And More

Pokemon Go‘s annual holiday event is returning next week, developer Niantic has announced. The event kicks off at 8 AM local time on December 22 and will feature a ton of festive activities and bonuses, including increased appearances of Ice Pokemon, exclusive Research tasks to complete, and more.

Throughout the holiday event, Ice-type Pokemon such as Spheal, Snover, Snorunt, and others will appear in the wild and hatch from 5 km eggs more frequently than normal. The Fresh Snow Pokemon Vanillite and its evolved forms will also make their debut in the game during the event, while Alolan Sandshrew, Dewgong, Jynx, Walrein, and more will appear as Raid bosses.

In addition to all the Ice Pokemon, a couple of festive costumed Pokemon will be available during the Holiday 2020 event as well. You’ll be able to catch Pikachu, Delibird, and Cubchoo wearing holiday-themed outfits. You’ll also have a chance to encounter Shiny Jynx in Raids.

Beyond the increased Pokemon spawns, there will be a variety of event-exclusive Field Research tasks to complete. These will lead to encounters with Cryogonal and Vanillite, among other rewards. Niantic is also adding some new holiday-themed avatar items to Pokemon Go’s style shop, including a Greedent Sweater, Whimsicott Earmuffs, and Winter Coat.

Finally, Niantic will offer various bonuses during the celebration. Throughout the entire event, you’ll be able to carry 40 gifts at a time and open up to 45 gifts each day. The following bonuses will also be available on specific days:

  • December 22-23 — 2x Raid XP
  • December 24-25 — 2x catch Candy
  • December 26-27 — 2x Star Piece duration
  • December 28-29 — 2x Lucky Egg duration
  • December 30-31 — 2x catch Stardust

The Holiday 2020 event runs until 10 PM local time on December 31. You can read more details on the Pokemon Go website.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Developer’s Stock Is Taking A Beating In Poland

CD Projekt Red became one of the biggest names in video game development thanks to the success of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt back in 2015, but it looks Cyberpunk 2077’s release is having a negate impact on its parent company. Though the open-world game beat Steam’s concurrent player record for a single-player game, its messy launch has caused CD Projekt’s stock to slip more than 33% since its early December high in Polish markets.

The downturn has caused some in the industry to question CD Projekt’s strategy. Daniel Ahmad, a senior analyst at Niko Partners who often tweets about industry happenings, said that this reflects an “overreliance on one large game release every few years…Any sort of uncertainty/issues will lead to this. Ultimately the decline isn’t because the game isn’t selling well, but because of future prospects / current known issues.”

Others have downplayed the stock price, calling it merely a bump in the road for one of the world’s biggest video game developers. For example, reporter and consultant Mike Futter noted that CD Projekt’s stock price is still ahead of where it was a year ago.

To be clear, stock prices are a fickle beast, and they reflect dozens of factors that are bigger than the release of just one game, even a blockbuster like Cyberpunk 2077. That said, the roiling controversy surrounding the game–and particularly its last-gen console versions, which are so buggy and broken that Sony and Microsoft have begun offering refunds–has overshadowed its positive review scores and impressive sales numbers.

CD Projekt issued a statement on Monday acknowledging the technical issues on PS4 and Xbox One and urging those who are unsatisfied with the experience to seek refunds. They also said that an update is planned within the next seven days that will hopefully alleviate some of those shortcomings. For more on the game, be sure to check out our full Cyberpunk 2077 review. This isn’t the first time the game has shown issues in need of fixing–the latest patch, version 1.04, addressed seizure-inducing scenes affecting those with epilepsy, music copyright issues for content creators, and a number of other problems.

Now Playing: Cyberpunk 2077 Review

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Chris Pine to Star in New Dungeons & Dragons Movie

Wonder Woman 1984 and Star Trek’s Chris Pine is in talks to star in Paramount and eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons feature film.

As reported by THR, Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley are set to direct the feature that is based on the popular role-playing game owned by Wizards of the Coast. Goldstein and Daley also wrote the latest version of the script that was based off a previous draft by Michael Gilio.

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No plot details were given for this new Dungeons & Dragon movie, but it will be the first feature film based on the property since Jeremy Irons’ starred in New Line’s adaptation in 2000.

The film rights for Dungeons & Dragons have been at the center of legal battles for many years, and a 2015 settlement appeared to make it possible for Warner Bros. to take control. Ansel Elgort was in early talks to star. Things have changed since Paramount struck a production and distribution deal with Hasbro, who is the owner of Wizards of the coast, and this news gives a bit more clarity as to their plans.

Former Marvel Studios executive Jeremy Latcham is onboard as producer for eOne, and it is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 27, 2022 following delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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In our review of 2000’s Dungeons & Dragons, we said “if making a movie is akin to running a marathon, then Dungeons & Dragons is like an infant trying to crawl. This film truly gives the already legendary Battlefield Earth legitimate competition as the worst, most inept big-budget movie released by a major studio in recent memory. Though it doesn’t have Battlefield Earth’s extra camp factors (the Scientology connection, Travolta), it may well actually be even worse. Quite an achievement.”

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

NBA 2K21 PS5, Xbox Series X Update Improved Player Likenesses

An update for NBA 2K21 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S is now live and it makes some visual changes, particularly regarding players and teams. The patch notes are outlined below.

Several teams have had their City uniforms updated, including the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, and Los Angeles Clippers. Players on those teams, like the Celtics’ Kemba Walker and Clippers’ Paul George, have had their likenesses updated as well to bring them more in line with their real-life counterparts. Other players have improved signature facial animations, though it’s unclear which players this applies to. There are also updates for the Toronto Raptors’ logo and City courts for teams like the Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers.

Along with updates to the City for various teams is a holiday makeover. The City in NBA 2K21 will be decked out in Christmas accouterments starting December 15.

One notable change made to NBA 2K21 on next-gen consoles is the size of the “green release” window. When shooting while being heavily contested, the window has been decreased. This difference will make those already tough shots even tougher to sink.

This third update also packages fixes for various gameplay issues, including problems with settings occasionally resetting after entering and leaving the menu during a game. Other fixes include stabilizing MyNBA Online, ironing out random hangs during the lottery in MyWNBA and The W, and addressing issues with collision detection in Pro-Aam games. There are also a “number of under-the-hood support items” added in preparation for MyTeam Seasons.

NBA 2K21 Update 3 Patch Notes

General

  • Court floor updates have been made for:
    • Philadelphia 76ers Primary
    • Philadelphia 76ers City Court
    • Utah Jazz City Court
    • Brooklyn Nets City Court
    • Denver Nuggets Statement Court
    • Denver Nuggets City Court
  • Uniform updates have been made for the following teams:
    • Philadelphia 76ers (updated City uniform)
    • Chicago Bulls (updated City uniform)
    • New York Knicks (updated City uniform)
    • Cleveland Cavaliers (updated City uniform)
    • New Orleans Pelicans (updated sponsor logo)
    • Los Angeles Clippers (updated sponsor logo)
    • Boston Celtics (updated sponsor logo)
    • Brooklyn Nets (updated sponsor logo)
    • Denver Nuggets (updated sponsor logo)
    • Los Angeles Lakers (updated sponsor logo)
    • Washington Wizards (updated sponsor logo)
  • The following players have received likeness and/or signature facial animation updates:
    • Paul George
    • DeMar DeRozan
    • Bradley Beal
    • Kemba Walker
    • Draymond Green
    • Rudy Gobert
    • Ben Simmons
    • Hassan Whiteside
    • Robin Lopez
    • Steven Adams
    • Isaac Okoro
    • Kelly Oubre Jr.
    • Cassius Stanley
    • Richaun Holmes
    • Precious Achiuwa
    • Josh Green
    • Aaron Nesmith
    • Tariq Owens
    • Edmond Sumner
    • Jalen Smith
    • Kira Lewis Jr.
    • Saddiq Bey
    • Steve Novak
    • Kelenna Azubuike
    • Devin Vassell
    • Chimezie Metu
    • Alen Smailagic
    • Naz Reid
    • Zylan Cheatham
  • The primary logo for the Toronto Raptors has been updated to reflect the latest design
  • Corrected a lighting issue in the historic Amway Center (Orlando Magic) arena
  • Addressed an issue with shorts displaying incorrectly in certain situations for classic teams
  • Resolved a rare hang when importing a face scan via the MyNBA2K app

Gameplay

  • Tightened up charge and block collision animations to prevent unwanted sliding
  • CPU defenders will now properly recognize the direction of a screen even after it has been flipped
  • Smaller “green release” windows on heavily contested shots
  • Fixed an issue with double-teams that was being used as an exploit
  • Adjusted breakout time of in-game emotes to prevent unrealistic movement
  • Corrected an issue with play graphics where the line for the pass would begin at MyPlayer, even if they did not have the ball
  • Resolved an issue with certain settings sometimes getting reset when entering and exiting the menu when in a game
  • You are now able to change the Tempo and Rebound settings when you toggle the ACE manager ON/OFF
  • Players will no longer be able to move unrealistically while defending inbound passes during Garage Hoops games

The City

  • The City is being decked out for the holidays! Coming Tuesday at 8AM PST!
  • Continued optimization and refinements to performance in the City
  • Various improvements and enhancements to buildings/objects/landscapes/lighting in the City
  • Further improvements have been made to invites and joining friends in the City
  • Streamlined the process of entering a store when you have a ball or vehicle equipped
  • The try-on feature should now properly work for the various standalone stores throughout the City
  • The Rep multiplier will now correctly appear in the postgame recap
  • Corrected an issue where the VC balance would not update immediately upon earning in various City events
  • Continued enhancements to the Puma Mania, Mobil 1, Kia Challenge, and Wacky Wednesday events
  • Fixed an issue in the postgame recap where the overall rating was not correctly showing the tenths of a point (it would appear stuck at 99.0)
  • Addressed user-reported issues with Garage Hoops games and related flow
  • Added collision to the baskets in Warehouse Challenge games for players running underneath
  • Resolved an issue where the timer/counter would sometimes not track during workouts in the Gatorade Training Facility
  • Corrected some visual issues when using the subway
  • You are no longer able to enter and purchase items at stores for Affiliations you do not belong to

Pro-Am/The Rec

  • New Holiday uniforms have been added for Pro-Am games
  • Updated uniforms have been added for Rec Center games
  • Resolved user-reported issues with private matchmaking for Pro-Am Team games
  • Improved the ability of CPU players used as fill-ins for Pro-Am Walk-On games
  • Addressed an issue with invisible collision under the hoop in Pro-Am games
  • Addressed tracking issues with stats during games in the Rec Center
  • Resolved a hang that could occur in Pro-Am when editing the uniform while other players on the team were still in a game

MyCAREER

  • Continued improvements to arena personnel positioning and behavior during postgame events, particularly in relation to on-court interviews
  • Your MyPlayer’s body type will now properly be kept individually per save
  • Addressed an issue with the saved camera setting being reset after the pregame shootaround in MyCAREER games
  • You can now skip through the animation of your MyPlayer walking back to the bench after being subbed out
  • Resolved a rare issue where newly applied tattoos could disappear when changing your MyPlayer’s appearance
  • Fixed a rare hang that could occur in the Jump Shot Creator menu when customizing your shot
  • Fixed an issue where your difficulty could be reset after participating in a training session with Chris Brickley
  • Addressed a logic error in The Long Shadow when determining if your performance was good or bad in the Combine and Private NBA Team Workout
  • Corrected a situation in the Dunk Contest where the Round Recap overlay could stay on the screen for too long, obscuring the following dunk

MyNBA

  • Uploaded Player DNAs and prospects in uploaded draft classes will now retain their tattoos
  • Start from Offseason will now include the rookies in the 2020 NBA Draft
  • Addressed a hang that some users reported when attempting to start a new MyNBA while using a custom roster
  • Addressed a hang that some users reported when attempting to download/apply Team Designs into a MyNBA
  • Editing tattoos will now work correctly in MyNBA Online
  • Fixed a progression issue in MyNBA Online that was causing many players to have their overall rating incorrectly decrease over time
  • Resolved various stability issues in MyNBA Online
  • Contracts for released players will no longer appear on the salary cap when dead cap rules have been disabled
  • Players will now continue to age after their age has been edited
  • Various improvements have been made related to player training and flex scheduling
  • You are no longer able to edit players in a ranked MyNBA league
  • Improved G League player generation to allow for a more realistic prospect pool

MyWNBA/The W

  • Players will now be wearing the expected/correct clothing during The W Online games
  • The camera will now always keep both the player and the ball on screen in The W Online games
  • Added baseline media to WNBA arenas and made continued improvements to the positioning and behavior of all characters
  • Fixed a rare hang that could occur during the lottery in MyWNBA or The W
  • Addressed an issue in MyWNBA where the League MVP would also be shown as the Rookie of the Year after simulating through a season

MyTeam

  • Added Online VS, the difficulty used in both MyTeam Limited & Unlimited, to Play With Friends games
  • The camera will now be positioned properly when a shooting foul is called during Triple Threat Challenge games
  • A number of under-the-hood support items have been added in preparation for upcoming MyTeam Seasons.

Now Playing: NBA 2K21 – Next-Gen Gameplay Reveal Trailer

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The Office Comes To Peacock January 2021 With Bonus Materials

Since 2019, we’ve known that Netflix mainstay The Office was due to leave the streaming platform for its NBC mothership platform Peacock in 2021. While previous reports indicated that The Office might stay on Netflix through the end of January 2021 at the very latest, one final way 2020 is getting its last kicks in is the announcement that this will not be the case. In a release sent out by Peacock, 2021 means 2021: The show will leap to Peacock on New Year’s Day.

“This memorandum is to inform everyone that we expect a significant spike in sales starting on January 1, 2021 when Peacock starts streaming the documentary footage that was shot at Dunder Mifflin Scranton between 2005 and 2013,” Peacock said in an announcement.

Sales brags aside, legitimate though they might be, The Office creator Greg Daniels pointed out one of the more exciting benefits of having The Office on an NBC platform: “Having The Office back in the NBC family opens up access to a lot of extra content that we originally shot.” As opposed to the vanilla broadcast versions that were available on Netflix, Daniels explains that he and the show’s original editors went back into the original footage and found never-before-seen footage which was “cut for time but is still fun to see.”

On Peacock, Daniels says viewers will get the option to watch the classic version of episodes or “superfan” extended cuts with both the new footage and other deleted scenes. It’s unclear if all seasons of The Office will have this, but Daniels specified that these alternate cuts will be made available for Season 4 first.