One Life Left x GDC podcast- PlayerUnknown, pro wrestling, and positive death
Hello, and welcome to the first of 2018’s GDC x One Life Left shows, presented by Gamasutra! We’re joined by an array of incredible guests as One Life Left's Ste Curran and Ann Scantlebury and Gamasutra editor-in-chief Kris Graft bring the best of the show to you.
Tune in as we chat about the future of board games, storytelling in wrestling, what PlayerUnknown hopes to learn at GDC this year, and much more.
On the sofas today were:
-
Jonathan Ying, Independent
-
Kate Edwards, Geogrify
-
Anna L…
Continue ReadingApex Legends Writers Tried To Do More In-Game Quests, But Couldn't
Apex Legends has just dropped a huge lore reveal, with its latest Stories from the Outlands introducing Ash as the game’s next playable hero, while also unravelling some mysteries about who the simulacrum really is Come from online casino bangladesh . Some fans of the series wish the story had been a playable quest in-game, however, rather than having it told across a number of comics posted to Twitter.
In a reply to a tweet expressing this disappointment, Apex Legends’ narrative director Tom Casiello said that the team had attempted to integrate some of the storylines as quests, but ultimately weren’t able to do it right in the amount of time allowed.
…
Continue ReadingArms Review
As a quirky Nintendo take on fighting games, Arms doesn’t start off on the right foot. Its unique fighting mechanics are hard to get used to, and learning its unusual controls and cadence can initially be frustrating. But once you wrap your head around the basics, you begin to recognize what it takes to win–clumsy punches become complex counters, and reacting to your opponent becomes instinctive as you settle into Arms’ peculiar pacing. If you can get past its unavoidable learning curve, you’ll find that Arms packs a fighting challenge that’s unlike anything you’ve played before and is fun in ways you wouldn’t expect.
Spring-loaded punches are the center of Arms’ combat. Your fighter’s arms have an incredibly long reach and take time to extend and retract. You are encouraged to play using motion controls with a Joy-Con in each hand, but that introduces a dissonance between the length of your in-game arm and your real life arm–by the time you’re physically ready to punch again, your virtual arm is still on its return trip. It’s easier to learn simple punches and timing with traditional controls, via the Pro Controller, which allow for more precise move…
Continue ReadingBeetlejuice 2 Is Getting Three Popcorn Buckets
Ever since the Dune: Part Two popcorn bucket came along, it seems like there’s a competition to outdo it. The Deadpool and Wolverine and Alien: Romulus popcorn buckets veered into slightly obscene territory. Now, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is going to arrive in theaters next month with three popcorn buckets of its own.
Regal Cinemas has released preview images of the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice popcorn buckets, starting with one based on the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, which is seen in both the 1988 original film and the upcoming sequel.
malaysia online casino ?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading” data-instgrm-version=”14″ style=”background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% – 2px);”>
Fast & Furious 10 Moves Release Date To May 2023
The next installment of Universal’s Fast & Furious saga hitting theaters has been pushed back to May 19, 2023 according to The Wrap.
Prior to this announcement, the 10th entry in the Fast series was scheduled to debut on April 7, 2023. That’s a delay of a little more than a month–though since it’s more than a year’s away still, it isn’t that staggering of a disappointment. In May that year, the movie will serve to further fortify what will be an impressive early 2023 summer slate of movies, as that month will also see release of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 and a live-action remake of The Little Mermaid coming on Memorial Day weekend.
Fast & Furious 10, directed by Justin Lin, will begin filming in January 2022 according to star Vin Diesel himself, and it’s even possible that Fast 10 and 11 will be filmed back-to-back. While Dwayne Johnson has officially severed ties with the series after a feud with Diesel, most of the rest of the cast is expected back, including Diesel himself, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, and Sung Kang are all set to return, but John Cena hasn’t confirmed his return yet. As of …
Continue ReadingGhost Of Tsushima Iki Island Guide – How To Solve The Blood-Stained Shrine And Unlock The Bloodborne Armor
Note: This article contains spoilers for the Blood-Stained Shrine on Iki Island. If you’d rather solve its puzzles yourself, read no further.
Hidden on Iki Island in the Ghost of Tsushima expansion content are three strange shrines adorned by huge statues. On your “Collections” menu, these are referred to as Wind Shrines, and each contains a riddle you’ll need to solve. If you’re a fan of other PlayStation exclusives, you should recognize what they’re referencing–three era-defining PlayStation 4 games. Those games are Bloodborne, God of War, and Shadow of the Colossus, and unlocking their riddles earns you cosmetic armors that were previously only available in Ghost of Tsushima’s Legends mode.
The Blood-Stained Shrine is the place you’ll find an homage to Yarnham and the Hunters of Old. Here’s where to find it and how to unlock its secrets. Don’t forget to check out our guides to find the Shrine of Ash and get the God of War armor, and to find the Shrine in Shadow and get the Shadow of the Colossus armor.
Note that to complete this shrine, you need to complete The Six Blades of Kojiro, a…
Continue ReadingSleeping Dogs Review_1
What does it take to survive as an undercover cop who infiltrates one of Hong Kong’s most ruthless criminal organizations? If Sleeping Dogs is any indication, it takes martial arts prowess, good marksmanship, driving skill, a reckless willingness to leap from one speeding vehicle to another, and the confidence to sing karaoke. None of the individual elements in Sleeping Dogs are best-in-class, but they’re all thoroughly enjoyable, and the structured story missions have you switching from one type of action to another frequently enough that you’re never tired of what you’re doing at any given moment. Additionally, the fictionalized version of Hong Kong where Sleeping Dogs takes place is an exotic and atmospheric setting for this tale of conflicting loyalties; you probably wouldn’t want to live amid the ruthless criminals who populate the game’s cast, but this world sure is a nice place to visit.
The Wolf Among Us, Episode 5- Cry Wolf Review
“So what if it wasn’t the truth? It was true enough.”
This line came in the final moments of The Wolf Among Us’ concluding episode, called Cry Wolf and it was an appropriate proclamation given the episode’s murky end. The mystery had been–well, I don’t know if “solved” is the proper word, but the case was now closed and it was time to move on. It was time to reflect on what Bigby Wolf had learned, what his decisions had meant for Fabletown and its residents, whose fairy tale lives of the past had been torn apart by murder, prostitution, and social upheaval. It was time to consider that I might have done the right thing for the wrong reasons, or perhaps the wrong thing for the right reasons. I am still not sure which it was, and the game certainly isn’t telling me.
I didn’t feel all that hopeful. Instead, I was struck by a pervading nihilism as I learned even more information after already making life-changing decisions that affected multiple Fables. Had I done the right thing? Was there a “right” thing at all? It didn’t seem so. The truth was now defined by its sliding scale. There was such a thing as “true enough.” It was this nihilism that had …
Continue ReadingNvidia Is Making It Easier To Use Game Pass On GeForce Now
Nvidia’s GeForce Now service has allowed access to PC Game Pass and other Microsoft games for a while now, but it’s about to become even more convenient for subscribers to use the two services together. Nvidia recently said that GeForce Now will soon allow you to directly link an Xbox account to enable automated sign-in for certain games.
Per The Verge, this feature will let GeForce Now and Game Pass subscribers sync both their Xbox game library, their Microsoft Store games, and their Xbox Game Pass games with GeForce Now Come from Sports betting site VPbet . GeForce Now subscribers have been able to sync their accounts to use PC Game Pass and Microsoft Store titles on the service, but this new connection will apparently allow you to set a login that works for supported games.
This feature is part of a collaboration between Nvidia and Microsoft to try to boost cloud gaming and streaming in a big way. Cloud gaming was also a major sticking point in Microsoft’s blockbuster acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with the console giant telling regulators that it would allow players to stream games throu…
Continue ReadingNext Jurassic World Movie Could Star Two-Time Oscar-Winner Mahershala Ali
Mahershala Ali is in talks to star in the next Jurassic World movie, according to a story from The Hollywood Reporter. Ali, a two-time Oscar-winning actor known for his roles in Moonlight and Green Book, would join Scarlett Johansson, Rupert Friend, Jonathan Bailey, and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in the film.
Shooting is expected to begin this June in London, with Gareth Edwards (Rogue One, Godzilla) directing. If that timeline is indeed accurate, it’s expected that Universal would officially announce the cast for the film soon.
There is no word yet on the story for the next Jurassic World film, but Jurassic Park’s original screenwriter, David Koepp, is coming back for the new film. Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two Jurassic Park films in the ’90s, is coming back as an executive producer.
The new Jurassic World movie, which doesn’t have a title yet, is set for release on July 2, 2025. Ali is also set to star as the title character in the Marvel movie Blade, which is set for release in November 2025. That film has undergone some behind-the-scenes changes, and many are wondering if Marvel will stick with the 2025 release or push the film further out.
Af…
Continue ReadingAGA reports illegal gambling of $511 billion annually captures $13.3 billion in tax revenue in U.S.
According to the American Gaming Association’s latest report, an estimated $511 billion is the annual turnover of illegal and unregulated gambling in America. These illegal sportsbooks, iGaming websites, and unregulated casinos deprive state governments of $13.3 billion in tax revenue each year.
Illegal revenue estimates:
This presumed tax revenue is around $2.5 billion more than the state revenue generated by legal operators in 2021 (being $11.7 billion). Further, the illegal competition costs the legal gaming industry $44.2 billion in annual revenue to represent almost half of the $92 billion industry’s revenue in 2021.
“Illegal and unregulated gambling is a scourge on our society, taking advantage of vulnerable consumers, skirting regulatory obligations, and robbing communities of critical tax revenue for infrastructure, education, and more,” said AGA President and CEO Bill Miller. “We have always known that the illegal and unregulated market is expansive, but this report illuminates just how pervasive it is.”
AGA report features:
The AGA report is extensively based on a survey of 5,284 U.S. adult citizens wh…
Continue ReadingGalaxy Ent. Releases Financial Report For 4Q23 & FY23; GGR Grew 6% Sequentially In 4Q23
Galaxy Entertainment Group revealed net income of HK$10.3bln, which is approximately US$1.32bln, for the period of 3 months leading to December 31 of the previous year, which jumped by 254% compared to the previous year and by 7% consecutively as it proceeds to recover from the years when pandemic reined.
Revenue data for Q423:
The above figures involved gross gaming income of HK$9.24bln, which is roughly US$1.18bln, and which increased by nearly 6% compared with the results from the September’s quarter of last year. In addition, adjusted EBITDA of HK$2.8bln, which is roughly US$358m, countered a loss of HK$163m, which is roughly US$20.8m, from the fourth quarter of 2022 and was largely in accordance with the third quarter, even though the aforementioned firm pointed out that it performed poorly to the tune of HK$103m, which is roughly US$13.2m, for the said quarter.
In terms of segments, the mass table drop saw an increase of 2.6% to HK$30.7bln, which is approximately US$3.92bln, with earnings of HK$7.83bln, which is roughly US$1.0bln. Additionally, rolling chip volume also experienced an increase of 6.6% to HK$34.6bln compared to the same quarter to HK$…
Continue ReadingIllinois Regulators Give Approval For Temporary Gambling Hall At Medinah Temple; Chicago Casino Proposal Moving Forward
The Chicago Plan Commission and Illinois Gaming Board, known as Illinois regulators, are still assessing Bally’s entire casino proposal, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Bally’s Chicago, which the company presented in August. However, on Thursday, February 9, they gave the go-ahead, which means licenses for an interim gambling hall at Medinah Temple.
Technically, approval was given to Medinah Building LLC, the company responsible for the physical structure of the site, and Medinah Holdings LLC, which is responsible for the land on which the gambling hall will be constructed.
The gambling hall would be supervised and managed by Bally until a lasting casino is constructed west of the Chicago River.
Approval of initial vendor licenses:
State regulators voted unanimously to approve initial vendor licenses for the politically connected owner of the significant Medinah Temple at 600 N. Wabash Ave., which is required to serve as Bally’s interim casino for at least 2 years while the Rhode Island-based company constructs its lasting facility at Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street.
The regulator can’t quickly make a final decision regarding a permanent Chicago …
Continue ReadingXbox Night Mode Lets You Dim Your Screen And Controllers
Microsoft is currently testing a system-level night mode for Xbox consoles, with users in the Xbox Insiders Alpha Skip-Ahead ring having access to the options right now.
The new update will give you the ability to set schedules for when your console goes into night, including manually scheduling and automatic scheduling according to your time zone’s sunrise and sunset times. In night mode you can set several parameters to make gaming in the dark more comfortable, such as an adjustable blue light filter (which can affect your ability to fall asleep) and the overall brightness of the image sent to your display.
Xbox's Big New Feature Is Ready But Can't Legally Launch Yet
In October, Microsoft announced that Xbox games would soon be sold in a new place–directly from the Xbox app on Android. However, a recent court ruling has delayed those plans.
Xbox president Sarah Bond said a “temporary administrative stay” was recently granted by a US judge, and as such, Microsoft is unable to release this new Xbox feature–though it is ready to go. “Our team has the functionality built and ready to go live as soon as the court makes a final decision,” Bond said.
This all stems back to a decision in the Epic v. Google case earlier in 2024 where a judge ruled that Google is required to allow rival third-party app stores to exist within Google Play. Epic’s Tim Sweeney spearheaded the initiative in his ongoing battle against Google and its business practices.
Google said at the time that it planned to appeal, and the company succeeded in convincing a judge to at least delay the decision. It remains to be seen when the stay could be lifted.
Epic, which created the massively popular Fortnite, convinced the court that Google made it very difficult for any rival store within Google Play to successfully compete in the market. The benefit to Mi…
Continue ReadingNew York Actors and Theater Workers Divided on Proposed Times Square Casino Project
A planned casino in Times Square has driven a wedge between New York theater worker groups as a planned casino in Times Square has driven a wedge between New York theater workers and actors as discussions surrounding possible new casino developments in downstate New York and New York City escalate. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) New York Theater Locals has joined the No Times Square Casino Coalition, but not all actors share its stance.
A Casino Could Exacerbate Existing Problems
IATSE includes the Broadway League and several other groups opposing the casino plan who stood firm against any casino projects in the area. According to the No Times Square Casino Coalition, the theater district was the least suitable location for such a development, as other viable proposals for the limited New York casino licenses envisioned superior projects that would not ruin…
Continue ReadingArnac-Pompadour’s Casino Project- A Fusion of Gaming and Culture
Since December, when Arnac-Pompadour in France was selected as the site for a forthcoming casino, the town has been bustling with preparations to welcome this exciting addition to its landscape. Set to be situated in the former Maison de la Santé de la Corrèze, the project has spurred eager anticipation among residents and visitors alike.
Selecting the right operator: a deliberate process:
After identifying potential locations for the casino, including the old health center, the town initiated a call for applications, attracting interest from six casino operators vying for the opportunity to oversee the venue’s operations. With all submissions now received, municipal teams are poised to review each proposal meticulously.
By mid-June, two finalists will emerge, presenting their visions for the future casino. These contenders will undergo further evaluation, elucidating their aspirations for the venue. Ultimately, the town council aims to appoint the chosen operator by the end of July, setting the stage for a transformative journey ahead.
Highlighting the allure of the forthcoming casino, the town council paints a vivid…
Continue ReadingFallout and the Future of Video Game Adaptations
Humanity has become desperate, divided into factions. No one can be sure of who to trust. Regression has been marketed as progress as outdated modes of thinking return. People look to leaders for guidance but receive only empty platitudes. Resources are running scarce as greed runs rampant. This is the world of Prime Video’s Fallout, the new series from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, based on Bethesda’s popular video game series which debuted in 1997. The show and the game take place in an alternate timeline in which nuclear power replaced fossil fuels, resulting in a retro-futuristic society, until said scarce resources lead to nuclear war. It’s a world that began as one similar to our own, caught in a cycle of war and corporate worship, but the trajectory of the world in Fallout is one we still have time to avoid in reality, at least as far as the series is concerned. While the series’ genre-bending narrative, infused with elements of science fiction, western, horror, and dark comedy, is something of a cautionary tale, the show itself is an invitation to peer through a bold new lens of video game adaptations. Welcome to the Wasteland.
If recent su…
Continue ReadingAs rage factories howl about Kay Vess’ looks, Star Wars Outlaws lead says there’s no point engaging with ‘bad faith’ criticism- ‘No nuance and no possibility of real dialogue’-
Star Wars Outlaws is almost here, and you know what that means: It’s nearly time to crouch-walk your way into saving the galaxy and—so says our own Morgan Park—actually have a pretty good time doing so.
But Star Wars Outlaws features a woman as its protagonist, which means it’s also time for the strangest corners of the internet to spin up some of the most baffling discourse they can. In this instance, a minority of very loud commentators have complained that devs have made Outlaws’ protagonist Kay Vess deliberately unattractive in order to further some kind of progressive political agenda. Somehow. Perhaps Ubisoft character designers are the engineers of the human soul.
It’s as bizarre a claim here as it was when certain segments of the internet were getting very heated about the appearance of Aloy in Horizon Forbidden West. More accurately, the appearance of Aloy in a screenshot taken at the most unflattering angle possible, which is then treated as representative of the character as a whole (which is also what’s being done to poor Kay Vess). Fortunately enough, Outlaws’ team has zero time for it. In a chat with The Washington Post, Star Wars Outlaws cr…
Continue ReadingFormer Infinity Ward dev says Activision told staff to ‘take the money and get over it’ after ‘cold-blooded’ canning of studio heads West and Zampella-
In 2009, Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella were abruptly fired by the company’s owner Activision. West and Zampella had directed the original Call of Duty, and brought the series to superstardom through Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Their sacking just before the release of Modern Warfare 2 shocked the industry, and arguably changed the course of both Call of Duty and the FPS forever.
Now a developer who worked at Infinity Ward at the time has recalled the dramatic events of that day. Paul Sandler, who is currently Lead Designer at NetEase games, wrote am article on Linkedin detailing the day’s events. “Jason and Vince just got fired!” the article starts, in the words of a “lead artist” who broke the news to Sandler while riding a scooter around Infinity Ward’s office. “I just sat there in stunned silence with my eyes wide open,” Sandler recalls. “I stood up from my chair and sad: “What the fuck?…Why?”
Some of what Sandler recalls is familiar from articles written around the time. He writes that West and Zampella were fired for “insubordination” after a “series of executive-level meetings” and that following the firing Activision’s security guards …
Continue ReadingNervous gulps as Behaviour acquires Darkest Dungeon dev Red Hook a week after killing Dead By Daylight spin-off studio it acquired 2 years ago
Red Hook has been hooked. The Darkest Dungeon dev has been acquired by Behaviour Interactive, the company behind Dead By Daylight.
Which would, in an ideal world, be good news: A mutually beneficial arrangement that gets Red Hook the support it needs to make new games and that gives Behaviour a stake in them. That’s certainly how the statements from each company’s execs are selling it, anyway. Behaviour CEO Remi Racine says it’s part of a plan to “make Behaviour synonymous with horror.” Red Hook co-founder Chris Bourassa says the deal will let the studio “[open] the door to new possibilities.”
All of which sounds good to me, but the problem is the context. Not only has Behaviour made a chunk of layoffs this year (which, to be fair, makes it far from unique—it’s been a terrible time in general to work in game dev), but this announcement comes a mere week after Behaviour closed down Midwinter Entertainment, the team behind ill-fated Dead By Daylight PvE spin-off Project T. Behaviour had acquired Midwinter back in 2022, but killed off the studio—and Project T—after an internal playtest of the game “yielded unsatisfactory overall results.”
So as…
Continue Reading‘We’re going to do this a better way’— Dungeons & Dragons maker changes plans after outrage over leaked licence draft-
Dungeons & Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has put out a statement in response to the still-ongoing uproar over its handling of the Open Gaming Licence (OGL). A post by D&D executive producer Kyle Brink offers an apology for the way WotC has handled the controversy so far, and promises a more “open and transparent” approach to a new OGL that seeks to incorporate community feedback.
The furore was originally sparked by a draft version of a new OGL which seemed to make the licence significantly less open, requiring royalties to WotC from successful creators and handing the company more control over third-party works produced under the licence. It would also have stopped creators from using the current, more open licence, in direct contradiction to previous promises from WotC that licensees would be able to use older OGL versions if new ones weren’t to their liking. But it now looks like the company is backpedalling from all of that.
“We are sorry. We got it wrong,” reads Brink’s post, before continuing to say that WotC’s draft OGL failed to “[protect and cultivate] an inclusive play environment,” and that the company’s silence over the matter had “hur…
Continue ReadingManor Lords’ developer doesn’t ‘have a game design problem with infinite money’ but was forced to patch out one game-breaking exploit anyway-
Manor Lords isn’t open for Early Access yet (that’s scheduled for next week, April 26), but some lucky players have gotten a first look at the city-building and management game through early playtests, and some have already figured out one way to break the game.
The primary aim of Manor Lords is to raise a town and progress it into a bustling city for you to manage and watch grow—but while navigating social situations and waging war are quite important, nothing tops the need for money. One gaming YouTuber, P4wnyhof, decided to take this rule one step further and create an infinite money economy that would completely break the game, with the help of 112 sheep and 52 lambs.
Sheep can technically produce an infinite amount of wool, and with the help of three shepherds, P4wnyhof was able to obtain a staggering 772 wool and counting from one single sheep farm. With the help of a couple of weavers’ workshops, which can create yarn and eventually clothes that sell for eight coins, the sheep farm was able to bring in an endless supply of money.
You’d have to spend your first couple of upgrade points on trade logistics and better deals, as this …
Continue ReadingPokimane is done streaming on Twitch-
Update (January 31): It was initially unclear whether Pokimane was leaving streaming entirely, or just Twitch. That’s now clear: Pokimane has announced that she’s participating in her first YouTube stream on February 1.
On why she’s leaving Twitch, Pokimane said in a podcast episode that her exclusivity contract expired, and that any new deal she could sign wouldn’t be as lucrative as the deals being offered a few years ago. More to the point, though, the streamer said that she’s lost interest in Twitch streaming, which she feels has “regressed” politically in the past two years, and doesn’t want to be tied to any one platform.
“Months ago, I had already personally decided I don’t want to re-sign with Twitch, and I don’t want to re-sign exclusively with any streaming platform,” Pokimane said. “It’s time for me to be free as a bird.”
She does say, as an aside, that she’ll “still be on [Twitch] sometimes, though.”
Original story: Popular streamer Imane “Pokimane” Anys says she’s done streaming on Twitch, where she has 9.3 million followers, calling it “the end of an era.”
“Twitch has been my home for a decade,” wr…
Continue ReadingDead Island 2 will have cards instead of a skill tree-
It’s wild to think that Dead Island 2 may only be a few months away. A sequel to the 2011 holiday in someone else’s misery was first announced in 2014 with Yager at the helm, then in 2016 it was announced that Sumo Digital had taken over, and now Dambuster Studios will be bringing it over the finish line, having started development from scratch four years ago.
In a recent quickfire interview with Game Informer (via the NME), Dambuster’s lead narrative designer Khan and creative director James Worrall answered 86 questions about Dead Island 2, covering its Los Angeles location, attention-grabbing trailer, and how the skill system will work, among other things.
The original Dead Island had skill trees for each character, with three branches covering Combat, Survival, and Fury abilities. Asked if the sequel would also have a skill tree, Khan replied, “There’s a skill deck, which is even better.”
Expanding on that, Worrall described the skill deck as, “A collection of slots that represent all kinds of different abilities and you swap the cards in and out on the fly, however you want, whenever you want.” Don’t expect something like Midnight Suns then, where you’re r…
Continue ReadingThanks to billionaires and businesses going mad for AI, Nvidia’s market cap rockets past $3 trillion, pushing Apple into third place-
Ten years ago, Nvidia was a successful graphics card company, with a pretty impressive market capitalisation of $10 billion. Now, thanks to huge revenue and profits, all driven by the tech world’s desire to have everything and everyone infused with AI, Nvidia’s share prices have reached such a point that its market cap is now an astonishing three trillion dollars—higher than Apple, Google, and Amazon.
Only Microsoft has a larger market cap, though the margins between it, Nvidia, and Apple are all very narrow. Well, if one can call tens of billions of dollars ‘narrow.’ For those unfamiliar with the term market capitalisation, it’s a relative measure of how valuable a company is on stock markets, with the figure determined by a simple multiplication of the number of company shares by the current share price.
At the time of writing, Microsoft’s shares sell for around $420, whereas Apple’s are roughly half that figure. Nvidia, though, is deemed so valuable right now that buying just one of its shares will set you back over $1,200. That’s almost enough to buy its best graphics card, the GeForce RTX 4090, though you’ll still be short by $40…
Continue ReadingThe next Magic- The Gathering set wants you to do crimes-
One of the mechanics coming to Magic: The Gathering in the western-themed Outlaws of Thunder Junction set is called Crime. It’s a way of rewarding outlaw behavior, with Crime specifically defined as using your spells or abilities to directly target an opponent, anything they control, or even their discards. When you do so, that’s called committing a Crime, and it’ll trigger effects from all your other criminal-themed cards in play.
For instance: Magda, the Hoardmaster pays you a treasure token if you commit a crime that turn, and will eventually let you spend three accumulated treasures to summon a 4/4 scorpion dragon. The Freestrider Lookout lets you scout out the top five cards of your deck when you commit a Crime, while the Hardbristle Bandit untaps, so you can use them to block after an attack if you’ve done Crime that turn.
It’s all about rewarding aggressive play. You’ve got to act boldly in a western, goshdarnit. Cowboys are supposed to shoot first, and Outlaws of Thunder Junction rewards them for doing so.
To make it easier to commit Crimes—and easier to realize when you have so you remember to collect your rewards—Outlaws of …
Continue ReadingSonic may have just taken the crown for the coolest-ever Lego set-
Sonic, please forgive me for all the times I’ve poo-pooed your games. Because holy hell, you sure do make for a cool-ass Lego set.
Yep, the blue blur has teamed up with Lego to create four new sets that are due to release this August. It’s not the first time the two have collaborated—the toy brick brand released a Green Hill Zone set back in 2021. We’re actually getting another Green Hill Zone set with this new batch of releases, but if you ask me this new rendition is significantly cooler. The “Loop Challenge” set comes with—as the name suggests—a loop, as well as other pieces to create a course. A hamster-wheeled Sonic can be strapped to a spring catapult and launched across the kit and straight into a meched-up Dr. Eggman.
It’s easily my favourite—and I imagine it’ll be the favourite of many others—but cool contraptions come at a price. It’s the most expensive of the four coming in at $99.99 / £94.99. It does come with a fair few character figures, though: Sonic can be freed from his hamster ball chamber, Dr. Eggman can be pulled from his mech, and Amy is included, too. It comes with a few creatures too, like a flicky, poc…
Continue ReadingWarhammer 40,000- Rogue Trader has an alignment system, sort of-
The latest trailer for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader emphasizes choice and consequence, highlighting its equivalent of alignment—the conviction system. “While exploring you will be met with a great number of hard decisions,” the trailer says. “Do you try to save the population of a dying world? Or burn it all with the intent of containing heresy?”
Owlcat’s CRPG tracks your response to dilemmas like this on three axes, with five ranks to measure how far you go along each. The Imperialis conviction measures your fire-and-brimstone dedication to the God-Emperor, while Hereticus goes up when you prioritize power over morality and give in to the temptations of Chaos. Benevolentia increases if you act like individual human lives actually mean something—a controversial belief in the Imperium of Man. Ranking up convictions can unlock dialogue options, events, and abilities, as well as affecting how NPCs relate to you.
The trailer goes on to introduce Inquisitor Xavier Calcazar, who seems to be consequence personified. “All these decisions will affect the whole subsector, attracting the uncomfortable attention of Inquisitor Calcazar,” the trailer’s gruff narrator…
Continue ReadingValve lured 40,000 Dota cheaters into a trap before banning them in one day-
With more than a little braggadocio, Valve has announced that it’s permanently banned over 40,000 Dota 2 accounts for cheating. In a post to the official Dota 2 blog yesterday, the company revealed that it had constructed a cunning trap to catch thousands of players that were using “third-party software” to “access information used internally by the Dota client that wasn’t visible during normal gameplay,” lending them an unfair advantage in-game.
It worked like this: Once it became aware of the exploit, Valve released a patch that created “a section of data inside the game client that would never be read during normal gameplay, but that could be read by these exploits”. Valve says that every single one of the accounts banned yesterday had read from that secret data, giving the company “extremely high confidence that every ban was well-deserved”.
Valve’s whole announcement has the air of a warlord mounting their enemies’ heads on spikes as a warning to the rest. The studio says that (and feel free to read this in Batman’s voice, if you prefer), “While the battle against cheaters and cheat developers often takes place in the shadows,” it wants “to make this example vis…
Continue ReadingAMD’s Chief Technical Officer- ‘We’re enabling our gaming devices to upscale using AI’-
It’s the tiniest of teases and opens up a whole trunk full of questions, but in a recent online interview, Mark Papermaster was asked what the year has in store for AMD. The CTO’s response was all focused on AI, naturally, but he also mentioned a curious little tidbit: its gaming devices are to get AI-based upscaling and 2024 is likely to be the year we’ll see it.
The discussion with YouTube channel No Priors (via Videocardz) is mostly about AMD’s position and thoughts on machine learning, cloud computing, and other big-money sectors. It’s a good chat between the hosts and Papermaster, although a little dry if you’re not interested in those specific topics.
However, the CTO’s closing remarks on AMD’s plans for 2024 are certainly of interest to gamers, all thanks to the brief comment on how the chip giant is bringing AI upscaling to its gaming devices.
“Well, this for us is a huge year because we have spent so many years developing our hardware and software capabilities for AI,” Papermaster begins. “We’ve just completed AI enabling our entire portfolio: Cloud, edge, PCs, embedded devices, our gaming devices. We’re enabling our gaming devices to upscale using AI …
Continue ReadingCyberpunk 2077 devs announce that they’ll announce something about Phantom Liberty in June-
Back when it was first revealed, the hope was that Cyberpunk 2077 would revolutionize the genre, and maybe even gaming as a whole. That’s not quite what happened, in part because the launch had more bugs than Starship Troopers. Performance issues, cars running into stuff, getting softlocked in the tutorial, weird children. It was a mess.
Thankfully, the redemption arc for Cyberpunk is real. With multitudes of bug fixes, content updates, and the transformative patch 1.6 behind us, as well as the massive success of the Cyberpunk anime, it seems as though things are finally getting in order for the game. So it’s with a certain amount of tentative excitement I look toward CD Projekt’s only planned DLC, Phantom Liberty.
We haven’t heard much since a pretty sick trailer at the Game Awards last year, but the official Cyberpunk Twitter account revealed the “exciting news” today that we’ll learn more about Phantom Liberty in June.
Now an announcement of future announcements is kind of like your dad telling you he’ll tell you about something when you’re older—deeply unsatisfying, and only serves to make you more curious. It’s not exactly a big surprise that we won’…
Continue ReadingXbox chief Phil Spencer thanks Bobby Kotick for his ‘invaluable contributions’ to the games industry as Kotick officially exits Activision Blizzard after 32 years-
It is now official: In a farewell message to employees, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has confirmed that he will be leaving the company.
Kotick’s future with Activision Blizzard came into question almost as soon as Microsoft announced its intention to acquire the company back in January 2022. The decision appeared to be all but made after that deal was finally closed, as Kotick said Xbox boss Phil Spencer had asked him to stay on as CEO “through the end of 2023,” which isn’t generally the sort of timeline you announce if you’re expecting to stick around. But today’s message makes it a done deal.
“As my last day leading this company inches closer, I marvel at how far the talented people at our company have come toward realizing the great potential of games,” Kotick wrote. “You have transformed a hobbyist form of entertainment into the world’s most engaging medium. It has been the privilege of my lifetime to work alongside you as we broadened the appeal of games.
“Perhaps the most important part of my job has been to help bring talented people together, provide the best resources possible, and foster an environment that encourages inspiration, creati…
Continue ReadingWordle hint and answer #650- Friday, March 31-
Turn every game of Wordle into a winner with our help. We’ve got general tips to help you improve every guess you make, a clue written especially for the March 31 (650) puzzle, and the answer to today’s Wordle, only a quick click or scroll away.
That was tense. Every guess today seemed to throw up more problems than answers, my screen filling with grey boxes. The situation was looking grim: the few letters I had found just didn’t go together—until my next guess finally made sense of them. It was a close thing, but I finally, happily, stumbled into today’s Wordle answer.
Wordle hint
A Wordle hint for Friday, March 31
This word describes all of the items or people in a particular group, or an event that occurs regularly: something that happens _____ Wednesday, for example. There’s just one vowel today.
ViewViewViewView
Is there a double letter in today’s Wordle?
Yes, a vowel is used twice in today’s Wordle.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
A good starting word can be the difference between victory and defeat with the daily puzzle, but once you’ve got the basics, it’s m…
Continue ReadingWizards of the Coast has admitted to using AI art in a recent promotional image-
Update 1/7/24: In the days following this story, Wizards of the Coast acknowledged that the Magic: The Gathering promo image was indeed made using AI tools. You can read our latest story on the controversy and its aftermath.
Original Story: In December, Wizards of the Coast committed to not using AI art in Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons, saying it requires its artists, writers, and other creative contributors “to refrain from using AI generative tools” to create its products. Despite that, MtG fans are accusing the company of using AI to create the backdrop for a promotional image of new cards—something WotC flatly denies.
Wizards shared the image on Twitter on January 4, writing, “It’s positively shocking how good these lands look in retro frame.” And frankly, I think it does look pretty good: The Edison bulbs, the old-timey pressure gauge, the out-of-focus books and pipes and stuff on the walls in the background—there’s definitely a vibe going on, and I dig it.
An awful lot of other people feel differently, though. Almost as soon as the image was posted, people began questioning whether AI was used …
Continue Reading