This week HP and Valve announced that they are working on a new VR headset, there’s lots of Microsoft news, Google announced the Stadia Maker Program and, Patreon announced impressive growth due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, Nintendo held a Direct, Sony announced a re-org and, NASA announced that they signed a contract with SpaceX for the Gateway program.

HP/Valve VR Headset

On Monday, HP teased that they are working with Valve on a new VR headset. The announcement coincided with the release of Valve’s long-awaited VR game Half Life: Alyx. Not much is known about the headset but there’s speculation that it would combine aspects of SteamVR and Microsoft Mixed Reality.

Microsoft News

New RCE in Windows

On Monday, Microsoft sent out a security alert about a remote code execution vulnerability in Windows. The exploit takes advantage of a flaw in Adobe Type Manager It can affect all supported versions of Windows and Windows Server but is less effective on Windows 10. It will likely be patched next Patch Tuesday (Currently scheduled for April 14).

Microsoft Will Stop Cumulative Windows 10 Updates

Microsoft announced that they are stopping cumulative (feature) Windows 10 updates. This is likely to be able to move resources to deal with security updates especially the aforementioned RCE expoloit.

Stadia Maker Program

On Monday, Google announced the Stadia Maker Program. It is a support program for US-based Stadia devs.

I screwed up and lost all my notes so this is the end for this week. Here are links to all my reference articles for the other stories I was planning to cover.

• Stadia Maker Program – 3/23/2020
  • https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/23/21191361/google-stadia-makers-indie-developers-release-games-funding-dev-kits/
  • https://9to5google.com/2020/03/23/google-stadia-makers/
• Patreon reports impressive status for the first 3 weeks of this month – 3/25/2020
  • https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/26/over-30k-creators-joined-patreon-this-month-as-covid-19-outbreak-spreads/
  • https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/26/21195412/patreon-covid-19-coronavirus-update-support
  • Press Release: https://blog.patreon.com/covid-19-creative-economy-patreon-data-science/
• Nintendo Direct – 3/26/2020
  • https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-direct-showcases-a-bunch-of-new-switch-ga/1100-6475258/
• Sony re-org – 3/26/2020
  • http://petapixel.com/2020/03/26/sony-spins-off-camera-business-into-separate-company/
  • https://venturebeat.com/2012/04/12/sony-reorg/
• SpaceX Gateway contract – 3/27/2020
  • https://www.space.com/spacex-wins-cargo-contract-nasa-gateway-moon-station.html/
  • https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/27/spacex-to-deliver-cargo-to-nasas-lunar-gateway-station-using-a-new-dragon-xl-spacecraft/
  • NASA PR: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awards-artemis-contract-for-gateway-logistics-services/
  • Scott Manley Videos
    • Program: https://ttns.link/628df
    • Dragon XL: https://ttns.link/8be37

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