Blizzard and Riot vet Street helming new NetEase studio Fantastic Pixel Castle

Leatherface and his family will soon have new prey, a new helping hand, and a new playground.

Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward just opened a new studio in Austin, Texas.

While President Biden was in San Francisco finalizing an agreement between the US and China to open a dialogue on artificial intelligence, among other issues, a who's who of AI and military leaders gathered nearly 800 miles away for a secretive event in the Utah mountains. Over the course of three days last week, more than 100 AI executives and insiders, venture capitalists and government officials listened to talks about the AI arms race between the US and China, and mulled the impact of Biden's sweeping executive order on the industry. They discussed how AI could be used by bad actors and considered the next possible tectonic shifts in the industry. 

Most people watching the surreal A24 movie Dream Scenario will think of it as a project tailor-made for Nicolas Cage. It’s exactly the kind of oddity he likes — a character-driven, high-concept story that lets Cage exercise both sides of his acting personality: the quiet, soulful side he brought to films like Leaving Las Vegas andPig, and the manic, shouty one that makes him go viral in films like Mom and Dad or The Wicker Man. It’s hard to imagine Dream Scenario working without Cage. But as writer-director Kristoffer Borgli pointed out after the movie’s secret screening at the 2023 Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, it nearly was made without him — Adam Sandler was originally cast in the lead role.

Infinity Ward has opened a studio in Austin, Texas.

Chinese giant NetEase Games has unveiled yet another new studio.

BioWare veteran Mac Walters left the storied RPG studio earlier this year after a 19-year career, during which he served as writer (and later lead writer) on the Mass Effect trilogy, creative director on Mass Effect: Andromeda, and production director on the still-in-development Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. Now he's announced his next venture: A new studio at NetEase called Worlds Untold, dedicated to developing «triple-A action adventure games with an emphasis on narrative and worldbuilding.»

After leaving BioWare in January, Mass Effect lead writer Mac Walters has established a new remote studio, Worlds Untold, in Vancouver, Canada, with NetEase Games. As per a press release, it aims to create new IPs with “depth and possibility” that “can’t be contained in a single game, or even a single medium.”

A Mass Effect and Dragon Age veteran has announced they are leading their own AAA game studio focusing on narrative and worldbuilding. 

After years of accelerating growth, Europe's electric car sales appear to be entering a go-slow zone as drivers wait for better, cheaper models that are two to three years down the road.

AI job threat peaks in Washington, D.C., according to a recent analysis; Majority of Americans believe AI will revolutionise healthcare in 2024; Google files lawsuit against hackers in India and elsewhere spreading malicious AI ads on Facebook; MIT Scientist urges CFOs to shift risk tolerance for rapid impact of generative AI- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look..

Diwali is almost here, and while India is all set to enter the festive weekend, the artificial intelligence space is ever so buzzing. In the first incident, Maharashtra Congress asked the state government to intervene and set up a committee to create a legal, regulatory framework to deal with the issue of deepfakes. In another incident, Google is currently in talks to invest capital worth hundreds of millions of dollars into the popular character-based AI chatbot platform Character.AI. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.