Valve won't host a Lunar New Year sale anymore

Source: Valve

Valve is changing the frequency of its big sales. Starting in 2023, Steam will forego its Lunar New Year Sale for the spring sale. That will run from March 16 to 23. According to the company, the spring sale is a popular request from developers and publishers. Many commented how the Lunar New Year sale (around late January or early February) ran too close to the December holiday sale.

"It will allow us to create more space between our four major seasonal sales and provide more opportunities throughout the year for developers to expand and execute their discounting calendar," Valve said in a blog post. "We think many publishers will still opt to discount games around the Lunar New Year holiday, using the custom discount tools. But we suspect customers will be better served by a little bit more time between the big Steam-wide seasonal sales."

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Intel, Samsung Display show off 'slidable' PC concept

Source: Intel

If this concept ever comes to life, we might see slidable PCs in the future. Samsung Display CEO JS Choi showed off at Intel's Innovation keynote a new prototype PC that goes from a 13-inch tablet into a 17-inch one. Choi said this "device will satisfy various needs for a larger screen and portability as well." He hinted at foldable being gone on PCs for now, at least from Samsung Display's perspective.

Using this prototype, Intel demonstrated its new Unison software on this screen, which aims to connect Intel-powered computers to smartphones. We don't know if this concept will ever become an actual product, but it does show us what the companies are experimenting with in this space.

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Darth Vader's voice is now AI-generated

Source: Lucasfilm / Benj Edwards

Any future appearance of Darth Vader in the Star Wars universe will no longer feature James Earl Jones's voice. The actor signed off during the creation of the Obi-Wan Kenobi show that Disney could replicate his vocal performance as Darth Vader in future projects. Disney has been able to do this with the help of an AI voice-modeling tool called Respeecher, which comes from a company in Ukraine. It can use deep learning to model and replicate human voices in a way that's almost indistinguishable from the real thing. 

This isn't the first time Lucasfilm has used Respeecher, though. They've done it with Mark Hamill's voice in The Mandalorian. So, they thought it might work with Darth Vader, too. Jones has voiced the iconic Star Wars villain for 45 years. And now at 91, he was ready to retire the character. Respeecher used archival recordings of Jones to create a voice model another actor could use to "perform" vocally using its speech-to-speech technology.

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You can build a 6,187-piece Lego of Mando's Razor Crest soon

Source: Lego

If you've ever thought of building The Mandalorian's iconic ship, you'll get the chance to do that with Lego. The company just launched a 6,187-piece construction set of the Razer Crest for US$600 (around CA$819). Of course, the ship will come with minifigures of Grogu (a.k.a. Baby Yoda), Mando, Kuiil, Mythrol, and a buildable Blurrg.

This rather expensive model is large at 72 cm long, 50 cm wide, and 24 cm high. You get removable engines and cockpit, an escape pod, and a mini figure-size carbon-freezing chamber. It also comes with a stand and information plaque you can display after it's built. Yes, there is also the shift knob that's fascinated Baby Yoda. If you're willing to drop the big bucks, LEGO VIP members get first dibs starting October 3, with everyone else getting the chance to buy one starting October 7 online and through LEGO stores.

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