Jump Space (Formerly Jump Ship) – Release Date Trailer – YouTube
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Keepsake Games might have altered the title of its upcoming co-op PvE sci-fi release from “Jump Ship” to “Jump Space,” but fan enthusiasm for bopping around the galaxy in a “Helldivers 2” meets “Starfield” type of hybrid amusement remains stratospheric, and we’ve got a dynamic new release trailer to share straight from last week’s gamescom 2025 industry event in Germany.
“Jump Space” arrives on Earth on Sept. 19, 2025 with a reworked title, that, according to Keepsake, enhances and expands “our scope and ambition for what is possible for the future of the game.” Gamers got a good taste of the product during the Steam Next Fest June 2025 and those who demo’d or beta tested this fun “Seas of Thieves in Space” diversion seemed very impressed.
Whether indulging in solo or co-op action, you’ll choose from myriad missions that will have you blasting around star systems and planets plundering stashes of weapons, gear, machinery, components, and technology while evading and decimating enemy factions as you strive to attain the ultimate goal of trying to shut down a lethal machine virus. Manage spaceship systems, make crucial upgrades and repairs, or save some energy for some epic zero-G EVA combat.
“We are still so thrilled that so many of you joined for our Next Fest demo,” Keepsake wrote back in June in a press release. “Since then, we’ve been hard at work adding as many additional features and further polish to the early access launch as possible. You can expect improvements to moment-to-moment gameplay, persistent progression, new enemies, new weapons, a new player ship, public server browser, and text chat, just to name a few.”
For more outer space fun, check out our list of best space games.
Suitable for up to four players, Keepsake Games’ “Jump Space” launches Sept. 19, 2025 in early access for Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam.
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
It has been a long time since Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja have given players a chance to go 3D with Ninja Gaiden lead character Ryu Hayabusa. After playing about an hour of Ninja Gaiden 4, it’s looking like our wait still isn’t quite over. However, through the combined efforts of Xbox Game Studios, Koei Tecmo, Team Ninja, and PlatinumGames, there appears to be a new ninja on the block and he’s proving to be a formidable force in his own right. Shacknews recently traveled to PAX West and got an opportunity to try out Ninja Gaiden 4 for the first time.
The early story of Ninja Gaiden 4 doesn’t directly follow Ryu Hayabusa. At least not yet, anyway. The story sees Hayabusa and the Divine Dragon Organization seal away the evil Dark Dragon for good. However, in doing so, the Dark Dragon unleashes a torrent of poisonous miasma that rains over Tokyo and renders it uninhabitable. This leads to the introduction of new protagonist Yakumo and the Raven Clan, rivals to Ryu and the Hayabusa Clan. Yakumo’s mission is to seek out Seori the Dragon Priestess and kill her in order to fulfill the Raven Clan’s prophecy and end the threat of the Dark Dragon forever.
Source: Xbox
However, a twist in the prophecy leads to a temporary alliance with Seori and a new goal: Break the seals of the Dark Dragon, resurrect the fiend, and purify him. With nothing left to lead to his future resurrection, only then would the Raven Clan be able to destroy the Dark Dragon for good. Of course, this would all be a lot to explain to the Hayabusa Clan and the DDO, especially given that the Raven and Hayabusa clans have been at odds for generations, so it ultimately leads to Yakumo facing resistance.
As one might expect of the 3D Ninja Gaiden series and PlatinumGames, this is a journey filled with intense action and extremely gruesome violence. The game opens with Yakumo infiltrating a DDO facility to seek out Seori, leading to frequent encounters with guards. Players mix up light and heavy attacks for a standard 3D action formula, but Yakumo’s blade is capable of dismembering foes. When enemies are dismembered, they’ll often react with a desperate attack, but a heavy attack can queue up an Obliteration, which is a bloody finisher that sees Yakumo leave his foe a heap of severed body parts and a mess of blood.
Source: Xbox
Ninja Gaiden 4 adds several more pieces to the combat formula. Bloodraven Form is something that players will become familiar with over time. It’s a powerful stance that uses Bloodbind Ninjutsu to cut through opponents, even if they attempt to block. Likewise, Bloodraven Form is the only way for Yakumo to protect himself from otherwise unblockable attacks. Charging up the Bloodraven Form and using it in pivotal moments is the key to prevailing in combat, especially during instances where Yakumo becomes overwhelmed by greater numbers.
Of course, the other major component of the Ninja Gaiden experience is platforming and using the swiftness and agility that come with being a ninja. Yakumo can wall kick at blinding speeds to scale tall surfaces quickly while wall running to cross long distances. Additional tools are picked up over the course of the game, such as the Caddis Wire, which is essentially Yakumo’s grappling hook. Mechanics like the Caddis Wire and wall running are often combined for a greater challenge, though there hasn’t been anything quite as infuriating as the old-school NES sequences. Not yet, anyway.
Yakumo will have his own supporting cast to help him in his mission. Umi is a supporting character who talks through Yakumo’s earpiece. She’ll chime in frequently to offer mission briefings and the occasional comedy relief. She’ll also be available through DarkNest Terminals, which is where players can upgrade their abilities. Yakumo will also encounter ravens frequently and they’ll be used to summon his mentor Tyron. Tyron can teach Yakumo new abilities and also give him an outlet to help him practice everything he’s learned so far.
This is all just scratching the surface of the Ninja Gaiden 4 story. At some point in the game, Hayabusa is expected to return and be playable. How the narrative reaches that point remains to be seen. It’ll also be interesting to see what tools Hayabusa brings to the table and how they’ll compare with his Raven Clan counterpart.
The Ninja Gaiden 4 story looks to be one worth checking out. The war against the Dark Dragon promises to be an exceptionally violent one and it’ll be exciting to see how it unfolds. There will be blood when Ninja Gaiden 4 comes to PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 on Tuesday, October 21.
This preview is based on an early version of the game played on-site at Microsoft’s offices in Redmond, WA. The final version is subject to change.
Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can’t enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?
Ulefone launched the Armor Pad 4 Ultra tablet last September, and we’ve learned from a reliable source that the brand will follow it up with its successor next week at IFA in Berlin, Germany. The Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra will share the stage with the Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Pro, and we’ve received details about both, so let’s take a look at the two tablets.
The Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra will have a built-in projector, which is its biggest highlight. It’s a projector with a maximum brightness of 200 lumens, a 960×540-pixel resolution, 100% offset, and auto-focus support. It has an upward throw angle of 26°, while the throw distance is 1063mm to 2134mm and the throw ratio is 1.2:1. The tablet has Projector Control at the top, accompanied by a customizable key.
Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra
The Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra features a dual “versatile LED light” and a dual warning light on its back. The LED light has a max brightness of 1,000 lumens and can be mapped to the customizable key. It supports four modes: SOS, Always Lighting, Lighting, and Sharp Light. The duration of Sharp Light and Lighting modes can be set between 5 and 30 minutes; however, only the Lighting mode supports adjustable brightness.
The Warning Light, on the other hand, has two lighting modes: Constant and Blink. It can simulate light effects for red, blue, and red-blue lights, while the warning sound can be simulated for fire, ambulance, police car, and other first responders.
Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra comes with a built-in projector
Another noteworthy feature of the Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra is the handle stand, which not only makes the tablet easier to carry around but also allows it to be used to keep the tablet tilted on a flat surface for watching videos or performing other tasks.
Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra features a handle stand
Under the hood, we have the Dimensity 7400X with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage, which is expandable by up to 2TB via a microSD card that gets a dedicated slot. The Armor Pad 5 Ultra will boot Android 15, but it’s unclear how many OS upgrades it will receive.
Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra’s features
The Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra packs an 11″ FullHD+ LCD having a 90Hz refresh rate, 10-bit color depth, and 600 nits peak brightness. The tablet sports three cameras for photography. There’s a 32MP camera (Samsung ISOCELL GD1) on the front and two 64MP cameras on the back – one is the primary camera (Sony IMX682) and the other is the Night Vision camera (OmniVision OV64B).
Keeping the lights on is a 24,200 mAh battery with 120W charging support. It also supports 10W reverse wired charging.
The rest of the Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra’s highlights include an IP68/IP69K rating, MIL-STD-810H certification, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, dual SIM support, headset-free FM radio, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The tablet is 27.8mm thick and weighs 1.6 kg.
Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra is IP68/IP69K-rated
The Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Pro is basically the Pad 5 Ultra, but without the built-in projector.
Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Ultra in black color
Both tablets will come in a single black color, but their prices are different. We are told the Ulefone Armor Pad 5 Pro will be priced at $499 (€425/INR43,985), while the Armor Pad 5 Ultra will cost $599 (€510/INR52,800). Both will go on sale in October.
Scientists may have just toppled a 100-year-old theory about what holds up the highest mountain range on Earth, new research shows.
The Himalayan mountains formed in the collision between the Asian and Indian continents around 50 million years ago, when tectonic forces squeezed Tibet so hard that the region crumpled and its area shrank by almost 620 miles (1,000 kilometers). The Indian tectonic plate eventually slipped under the Eurasian plate, doubling the thickness of Earth’s crust beneath the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau to the north, and contributing to their uplift.
For a century, the prevailing theory has been that this doubling of the crust alone carries the weight of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. Research published in 1924 by Swiss geologist Émile Argand shows the Indian and Asian crusts stacked on top of each other, together stretching 45 to 50 miles (70 to 80 km) deep beneath Earth’s surface.
But this theory doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, researchers now say, because the rocks in the crust turn molten around 25 miles (40 km) deep due to extreme temperatures.
“If you’ve got 70 km of crust, then the lowermost part becomes ductile… it becomes like yogurt — and you can’t build a mountain on top of yogurt,” Pietro Sternai, an associate professor of geophysics at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Italy and the lead author of a new study analyzing the geology beneath the Himalayas, told Live Science.
Evidence has long suggested that Arnand’s theory is erroneous, but the idea of two neatly stacked crusts is so appealing that most geologists haven’t questioned it, Sternai said. Historically, “any data that would come along would be interpreted in terms of a single, double-thickness crustal layer,” he said.
Related: Will Mount Everest always be the world’s tallest mountain?
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However, the new study reveals there is a piece of mantle sandwiched between the Asian and Indian crusts. This explains why the Himalayas grew so tall, and how they still remain so high today, the authors wrote in the paper, published Aug. 26 in the journal Tectonics.
The mantle is the layer of Earth that sits directly beneath the crust. It is much denser than the crust and, therefore, doesn’t liquefy at the same temperatures. Meanwhile, the crust is so light and buoyant that it behaves similarly to an iceberg, lifting up higher above Earth’s surface the thicker it gets.
Sternai and his colleagues discovered the mantle insert by simulating the collision between the Asian and Indian continents on a computer. The model showed that as the Indian plate slipped beneath the Eurasian plate and started to liquify, blobs of it rose and attached themselves not to the bottom of the Asian crust, but to the base of the lithosphere, which is the rigid outer layer of the planet composed of the crust and upper mantle.
A diagram from the study shows how blobs of the Indian crust rose and attached to the bottom of the lithosphere after the Asian and Indian continents collided. In dark blue we see the upper mantle, and in orange, the partially molten Indian crust. (Image credit: Sternai et al. 2025, Tectonics. Redistributed under Creative Commons licence CC BY 4.0.)
This is fundamental, Sternai said, because it means there is a rigid layer of mantle between the stacked crusts solidifying the whole structure beneath the Himalayas. The two crusts give enough buoyancy to keep the region lifted, while the mantle material provides resistance and mechanical strength. “You’ve got all the ingredients you need to uplift topography and sustain the weight of the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau,” he said.
The researchers then compared their results with seismic data and information gathered directly from rocks. The mantle sandwich in the simulation matched previous evidence that Arnand’s theory couldn’t explain, study co-author Simone Pilia, an assistant professor of geoscience at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, told Live Science.
“Things actually start to make sense now,” Pilia said. “Observations that seemed to be enigmatic are actually now more easily explained by having a model where you have crust, mantle, crust.”
The study presents strong evidence for this model, but contradicting Arnaud’s 100-year-old theory is controversial because it has been so widely adopted, Pilia said.
“I think the authors are correct that this is controversial,” Adam Smith, a postdoctoral research associate in numerical modeling at the University of Glasgow in Scotland who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email. “All prior work generally agreed that all the material beneath the Himalayas came from the crust.”
But the results are still plausible, and they explain a number of geological oddities in the Himalayas, Smith said. “The authors run lots of simulations using different thicknesses for all of the layers, and they seem to always get this bit of mantle sandwiched between the crust of the two plates.”
Douwe van Hinsbergen, a professor of global tectonics and paleogeography at Utrecht University in the Netherlands who wasn’t involved in the study, disagreed that the results are controversial. “It’s a nice new finding and an elegant interpretation,” he told Live Science in an email. “If a continent shoves below another continent, you’d expect a sandwich that consists from top to bottom of crust and mantle lithosphere of the upper (Tibet) plate, and then the crust of the lower (Indian) plate.”
What’s inside Earth quiz: Test your knowledge of our planet’s hidden layers
Samsung has booked in another Galaxy launch event for next Thursday, September 4, and we’re seeing plenty of leaks around what to expect in terms of devices – and specifically, the Galaxy S25 FE phone and Galaxy Tab S11 series of tablets.
We’ve got what look like official marketing images of the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra and Galaxy S25 FE from tipster Evan Blass, which were shared by Android Authority, giving us a good look at the design of both devices.
The Galaxy S25 FE is of course the successor to the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, and it doesn’t look as if we’re going to get much in the way of external changes – though the internals are certain to get a performance boost for 2025.
As for the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, it’s the follow-up to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra that launched in October 2024. Again, it doesn’t seem as though much has changed in terms of the aesthetics, but we’ll have to wait for the details.
The leaks continue
The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE launched last October (Image credit: Future)
Besides the official-looking imagery linked to above, we’ve also got a sneak preview of the Tab S11 series, courtesy of a couple of Polish retail outlets (via GSMArena). A standard Tab S11 and a Tab S11 Ultra are listed, so we can expect at least two new models.
We’ve also got even more promo shots of the Galaxy S25 FE courtesy of Android Headlines, and the pictures indicate four colors for the new mid-ranger: black, white, navy, and what looks like a pale lavender shade, so take your pick.
Add in the extensive series of leaks we’ve previously seen – covering everything from full specs sheets to display sizes and resolutions – and there isn’t much we don’t know about the phones and tablets that are on the way next week.
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Everything gets underway on September 4 at 2.30am PT / 5.30am ET / 10.30am BST / 7.30pm AEST), ahead of the IFA 2025 tech show in Berlin. We’ll bring you all the announcements as they happen, and you’ll also be able to watch the event live.
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Microsoft General Manager Mike Hulme looked at the business case for AI and cloud modernization. Dubbed Frontier Firms by the Microsoft 2025 Work Trend Index, these are organizations “powered by intelligence on tap” with combined human-agent teams and embracing scaled transformation.
CTO Mark Russinovich explored ways to protect Azure infrastructure. Microsoft launched the Secure Future Initiative, or SFI, a company-wide commitment to security by design. As part of this new comprehensive approach, the company offers services like Azure Boost to isolate control and data planes, Azure Integrated HSM, a custom security chip, and confidential computing to protect data with hardware-based trusted execution environments.
In a related effort, Microsoft is contributing to the open-source community with Caliptra, a silicon root-of-trust designed to support security with hardware. Additionally, Microsoft has embraced Code Transparency Services using a ledger technology, and Systematic Security Reviews.
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WhatsApp is working on a major new feature that will make connecting with others much simpler. The company is developing a username system that allows users to be found without sharing their phone numbers. In simple words, you can search for people on WhatsApp by username. ‘This change is part of the latest beta updates for both iOS and Android.
Currently, WhatsApp relies on phone numbers to add and connect with contacts. While effective, this method has privacy limitations. Many users are uncomfortable sharing their personal numbers with strangers, colleagues, or online communities. To solve this, WhatsApp is now introducing the option to create a unique username.
WhatsApp to Introduce Username Search Feature for More Privacy and Easy Connections
A username will act as a digital identity. With it, users can be searched and contacted without revealing their phone numbers. The usernames must follow specific rules. They must be unique, contain at least one letter, and meet length and formatting requirements. These restrictions will prevent confusion, impersonation, and misuse.
The real highlight of this feature is the new username search function. According to the latest Android beta update (version 2.25.24.22), users will soon be able to search for others by simply typing in their usernames. This option will be available in the Chats tab, using a floating action button. Once a username is entered, WhatsApp will scan its system and display results.
If a matching account is found, it will appear along with the user’s profile picture, depending on privacy settings. For example, if the profile picture is set to “Everyone,” it will be visible in the search results. From here, users can start a chat directly, without needing the other person’s phone number.
All conversations started via usernames will still enjoy WhatsApp’s strong end-to-end encryption. This ensures that messages, calls, and shared media remain private and secure. These chats will also appear in the normal Chats tab, just like regular conversations.
There are, however, some limitations. It will not be possible to hide an account from username searches. The main purpose of usernames is discoverability, so this visibility is essential. But WhatsApp has added an extra safety feature called the username key. This works like a passcode for first-time chats. If someone does not know the correct key, they cannot send a message to the username holder. This provides users with more control and protection against unwanted contacts.
See also: WhatsApp Expands Disappearing Messages Options With Short Timers
The username system will work globally. This means you can search for and connect with users worldwide, even if they are not in your contacts. At the same time, the feature remains optional. Users who prefer to stick with phone numbers can continue doing so.
To protect against spam, WhatsApp is also adding safeguards. If an account sends repeated unwanted messages through usernames or is reported for suspicious activity, WhatsApp may enforce penalties under its Terms of Service. This will help keep the platform safe and user-friendly.
Overall, this update promises more privacy, flexibility, and convenience for WhatsApp users. It removes the need to share personal numbers and makes connecting across borders easier. The feature is still in development, but once released, it could transform how people use WhatsApp to communicate.
There is certainly no shortage of things to discuss with the devs of Elder Scrolls Online, whether it’s wider studio matters like layoffs and leadership changes or game-related things like scribing and subclassing. Some of those matters were touched on during a WCCFTech interview at Gamescom with new ESO director Nick Giacomini and now studio director Rich Lambert.
That change in roles was one of the first questions addressed by the pair, with Lambert explaining that he’ll focus on studio-wide initiatives and future projects while Giacomini will handle ESO’s future direction. As for the vision for ESO’s future, Giacomini says that he and Lambert share similar thoughts on listening to the playerbase first and making sure the now 11 year-old MMORPG evolves.
That talk about evolution segues into a question about the MMORPG’s new seasons model and how it’s been received by players so far. While both admitted that the dust hasn’t really settled on the shift, they also feel that most players are beginning to see the dev team apply some of the promised experimentation such as the recently announced Writhing Wall event.
“Part of the philosophy change is that it prevents us from getting locked into this extremely long development cycle, so we have more opportunities to try things to engage,” says Giacomini. “I think this is very much a transitional year. By the next year, players are going to see more change and understand it better.”
The interview then moves into some of the more focused plans for ESO, with confirmation that more system-specific updates will continue forward, the Infinite Archive may be expanded if players want it to, and the potential to expand on the scribing system, though it is also noted that not much of what’s planned for 2026 can be discussed yet. The pair also consider how subclassing has shifted the MMORPG’s meta and how players use it to engage in content like PvE trials, as well as talk about how to best balance things to ensure those who play just a single class aren’t left behind or that players aren’t forced into one subclass choice.
Finally, the question about the impact of layoffs was touched on: Both admitted that the effects among devs and the two personally were still very raw, but they also resolved to pour full focus into ESO in order to achieve that 30-year game ambition.
“We are not shutting the doors and backing down and cutting, mothballing ESO to run it out,” responds Lambert. “[W]e’re focused on moving ahead and forging ahead with the people we have left. We want to make ESO the best thing it can be, and that’s the goal for all of us.”
The MatePad Mini will debut in China on September 4. (Image Source: Huawei)
Huawei has now confirmed a launch date and name for its upcoming compact high-end tablet. The MatePad Mini is scheduled to debut alongside the tri-folding Mate XTs, and will arrive with an OLED screen and 5G connectivity.
Huawei has now confirmed its intentions to be the next OEM to launch a compact premium tablet. Devices like the RedMagic Astra and Redmi K Pad have debuted in recent months as alternatives to Apple’s iPad Mini, and Huawei looks set to present its contender.
Taking to its Weibo page yesterday, Huawei revealed that it will be debuting a new compact tablet, the MatePad Mini, on September 4:
A different Mini, a super-Mini. See you on September 4th!
The MatePad Mini is widely rumored to launch as a high-end model, with company executive He Gang confirming those reports by calling it a “flagship small tablet”. The company also has other devices scheduled to launch at that same event, including the new Huawei Smart Screen Mate TV, as well as its second-gen tri-folding smartphone—the Mate XTs.
As for the MatePad Mini itself, there’s not much known at the moment. According to leakers WhyLab and Digital Chat Station, however, the tablet will sport an 8.8-inch OLED screen, a Kirin 9-series processor, and the option for 5G cellular connectivity. Three colorways are mooted: Snow White, Spruce Green, and Obsidian Black.
Ricci Rox – Senior Tech Writer – 3054 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2017
I like tech, simple as. Half the time, you can catch me writing snarky sales copy. The rest of the time, I’m either keeping readers abreast with the latest happenings in the mobile tech world or watching football. I worked as both a journo and freelance content writer for a couple of years before joining the Notebookcheck team in 2017. Feel free to shoot me some questions on Twitter or Reddit if it so tickles thine fancy.
