Discover new Machine content and explore the story of your empire's ascension into synthetic or cybernetic beings. It is time to leave our flawed biological vessels behind. It's my pleasure to announce that The Machine Age major expansion will be released alongside the Stellaris 3.12 'Andromeda' update. Focusing on cybernetic, synthetic, and machine themes, The Machine Age will begin during the second quarter of 2024.

In pursuing the divine calling, we shall achieve the fusion of the exalted body and sacred cybernetics. The Technophants and Haruspex of the Cybernetic Creed will guide their flock to the perfect union of flesh and machine. Cybernetic augmentation is not solely the province of the materialists. Playgrounds stand empty. In time, we will cease to be. For now, our salvation lies in the digital realm…A doomed species races against extinction to reach the virtual world in Synthetic Fertility.

As we enter the last month of the year, the first week of December starts with a movie based AAA title that is likely to be popular with some and loathed by others. The rest of this coming week's releases aren't quite as impressive, with one exception it seems. However, you can look forward to a mix of underworld dreams, some 4X space action, eggs, another post-apocalyptic MMO and a horror game.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora / This week's AAA title / Thursday 7 December
Abducted by the human militaristic corporation known as the RDA, you, a Na'vi, were trained and molded to serve their purpose. Fifteen years later, you are free, but find yourself a stranger in your birthplace. Reconnect with your lost heritage, discover what it truly means to be Na'vi, and join other clans to protect Pandora from the RDA.

Today, Paradox Interactive announced Astral Planes, a new narrative-focused expansion for its sci-fi strategy game Stellaris, coming later this year on PC. Thanks to new reality-breaking technologies and systems, in Astral Planes players will explore alternative dimensions and encounter creatures and phenomena in numerous parallel worlds. They will chart their own path through the unknown in self-contained and fully branching narratives, adding new depth and agency to player choices.

Navigate wonders and dangers through the different features included in Astral Planes:
NEW CORE SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES
Unlock new Technologies, Actions, and Relics to manipulate space and interact with the galaxy in unexpected ways. Explore new realms filled with mysteries and opportunities.

Intel Arc "Alchemist" graphics architecture was originally developed as a forward-facing PC GPU architecture with many of the contemporary graphics technologies, including full DirectX 12 Ultimate support, however, the GPU curiously lacks hardware support for DirectX 9. Released 20 years ago, DirectX 9 continued to power AAA PC titles well into the 2010s as game console development lagged (the era of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3), and most e-sports titles of the time included either native or fallback DirectX 9 support for those on older GPUs. This is a problem for Intel, as many of the currently-popular e-Sports titles may still use DirectX 9, and so the Intel Graphics team set out to individually optimize DirectX 9 titles with each new Arc GPU driver release.

While Arc GPUs lack DirectX 9 support, foolproof API translation technologies exist, which convert DirectX 9 API instructions into DirectX 12. This is not fundamentally unlike how 32-bit applications work on 64-bit Windows (using WOW64 machine-architecture translation). This, however, requires per-game optimization to ensure any engine-level special features are correctly translated. With the latest 101.3959 Beta drivers, Intel optimized popular DirectX 9 titles "League of Legends," "Counter Strike: Global Offensive," "Starcraft 2," "Payday 2," "Guild Wars 2," "Stellaris," "NiZhan," and "Moonlight Blade." The company seems to be going about this the smart way, by relying on market analysis for selecting the games in need of optimization (understanding what DirectX 9 games are still being played).

Moondrop joins the Planar bandwagon today with the launch of their highly-anticipated Stellaris Planar Magnetic Driver IEMs. Moondrop isn't bound for any introduction among Audiophiles. The brand has been hyper-active in the industry with its class-leading range of in-ear monitors. They cover different price segments and have always been on the front with their classic approach with single Dynamic and multi-driver hybrid driver configurations. Moondrop is also known for its exclusive designer looks for its in-ear monitors. Today, they join the league of planar magnetic driver IEMs with the all-new Stellaris.

Stellaris features a newly-developed 14.5 mm planar magnetic driver. It utilizes a sub-nanometer diaphragm with a thickness of just 1um. The diaphragm has been stretched tightly on the bracket for uniform tension. This driver has been designed in collaboration with Tuoyin Electronics Pvt. Ltd. which is the first manufacturer in China to develop Planar drivers for in-ear monitors. Bringing together their expertise in Planar Drivers and Moondrop's exquisite acoustic cavity structure design, Stellaris provides exceptional performance with unmatched clarity and low distortion in the output signal.