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Call of Duty Season 5 will feature Nicki Minaj as the first ever female celebrity “Operator” playable character, Activision announced. She’ll appear in Warzone and Modern Warfare 2 as part of CoD’s “50 Years of Hip Hop Celebration,” along with Snoop Dogg and 21 Savage. 

Other celebrities including Lionel Messi, Kevin Durant and Snoop Dogg (multiple times now) have appeared in CoD in the past. Minaj, however is “Call of Duty’s first-ever self-named female Operator,” the developer noted. “Playtime is over; this is not ‘Chill Nicki’; this is Red Ruby Da Sleeze,” it added, referencing Minaj’s track and video released earlier this year. 

Minaj will appear and have her own storefront later in Season 5, with items for sale likely including the hot pink rifle pictured above. Minaj’s appearance was previewed last year in a YouTube video called Squad Up, which also featured Lil Baby, Bukayo Saka, and Pete Davidson — though there’s no word if those people will also appear in CoD at some point. 

The Season 5 website also shows information on the 9mm ISO sub machine, the AN-94 assault rifle and other weapons. CoD also previewed multiplayer additions like new maps for Livestock and Petrov Oil Rig. Meanwhile, Warzone 2.0 adds new locations like Verdansk Stadium. Season 5 will also include a reveal of the upcoming Call of Duty 2023 (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3) — in Warzone. Season 05 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty: Warzone are set to launch on August 2 at 9 AM PT across all platforms.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nicki-minaj-will-be-a-playable-character-in-call-of-duty-051544179.html?src=rss 

Ahead of the final two races of Season 9 in London, Formula E showed off the “unlocked” potential of its Gen3 electric race car. The EV series has claimed the world record for indoor land speed, clocking in at 135.9 MPH (218.71 KPH) in a GenBeta development car. The run took place on a .176-mile straight on the London E-Prix circuit, a portion of which is inside the ExCeL London arena. The car, piloted by NEOM McLaren Formula E driver Jake Hughes, beat the previous record of 102.7 MPH (165.2 KPH) by 33 MPH. 

Hughes went head-to-head with fellow driver Lucas di Grassi (Mahindra Racing) in a modified version of Formula E’s duels format typically used for qualifying. Each one was given a chance to set the fasted speed on the indoor section of track and both bested the former world record on all three of their practice runs before making official attempts. Neither Hughes nor di Grassi had driven the GenBeta car prior to this exhibition. 

Formula E says the GenBeta car has a number of upgrades to make it faster and more powerful than the Gen3 car used in race events. First, it has an enhanced power output of 400kW, up from 350kW in race trim. The added power comes via all-wheel drive for the first time in a Formula E car through “activation of the front powertrain kit” for more traction while accelerating. 

“The GenBeta is the first time that four-wheel drive has been activated in a single-seater race car for both acceleration and braking regeneration,” explains Alessandra Ciliberti, Formula E’s technical manager. “The GenBeta showcases what will be possible for Formula E racing in the near future.”

The GenBeta car was also running softer Hankook tires which afforded “faster warm-up and better peak grip.” The harder race-day tires are currently designed for all conditions and to offer low degradation over the course of an E-Prix. Additionally, 3D-printed wing endplates, wheel fins and a wind deflector were installed for enhanced aerodynamics and peak straight-line speed. Al was also used to analyze the drivers’ runs, powered by Google’s Vertex platform and McKinsey & Company’s QuantumBlack, helping interpret telemetry and fine-tune strategy.

In order to make the record official, the drivers had to start from a standstill and completely stop inside the convention center. This meant taking a 130-degree turn at about 25 MPH before going flat out along the straight. Speeds were captured 16.4 feet before the drivers hit the breaking zone, or the section of the circuit needed for them to stop and remain inside the building. 

The regular Gen3 car is already the fastest and most efficient electric racer ever built. It’s capable of over 200 MPH at top speed and generates 40 percent of the power it needs to complete an E-Prix through braking. Formula E describes GenBeta as “an innovation platform” that was created by the racing series, the FIA, Sabic and Hankook. Projects with the vehicle are meant to experiment with new materials and technology in a bid to increase performance, efficiency and sustainability. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/formula-e-breaks-indoor-land-speed-world-record-in-unlocked-gen3-car-040005749.html?src=rss 

AMD has revealed its first mobile gaming processor with 3D V-Cache. As the name suggests, 3D V-Cache enables AMD to stack more cache on top of the CPU. The tech arrived on desktop processors last year, and soon you’ll be able to pick up a laptop with a 3D V-Cache CPU.

This approach allows AMD to cram extra 64MB of L3 cache onto the Ryzen 9 7945X3D. For a total of 144MB. That helps mitigate the chances of cache miss. If your system can’t find information it’s looking for in the cache, it has to go to system memory. That could result in processes taking 10 times longer to carry out, according to AMD. The company claims its 3D V-cache approach can help increase the frame rates of games.

By moving vertically instead of padding more cache onto a CPU’s typical 2D plane, AMD is able to increase the size of the cache without having to make the chip wider or longer. In essence, the company can get more performance out of a CPU while avoiding any increase to the horizontal real estate it takes up on a motherboard.

The company claims this is the fastest mobile gaming processor on the planet, and that it’s more than 15 percent faster than the Ryzen 9 7945HX on average. It has 16 cores, 32 threads, up to 5.4 Ghz boost speeds and 55W+ TDP. The CPU is built on the Zen 4 architecture.

You won’t have to wait too long to get your hands on a laptop that uses the Ryzen 9 7945X3D. ROG’s Strix Scar 17 X3D machine will be available on August 22nd.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amd-unveils-its-first-laptop-processor-with-3d-v-cache-010028830.html?src=rss