Blizzard Reportedly Partnering With Netease Again For Chinese Market Comeback

Independent Canadian studio Behaviour Interactive has reportedly been hit with layoffs in its Montreal headquarters.

It looks like consumer GPUs from AMD, NVIDIA, Apple & Qualcomm aren't safe from vulnerabilities, as experts have reportedly discovered a threat known as "LeftoverLocals" that can extract data from the GPU's memory.

Square Enix's upcoming team shooter Foamstars will have a small amount of AI art, the developer has said.

Mojang Studios has partnered with BBC for a brand-new Minecraft Education world inspired by Planet Earth 3.

Given the sheer quantity of games releasing on Steam these days, having a neat little elevator pitch for your game can be vital in helping it stand out. For example, if I get an email saying a game is like "Obra Dinn meets such and such" or "Into The Breach but a deckbuilder", that's like personal catnip to me, and can be a handy indicator of whether I should investigate further - maybe watch a gameplay trailer for it, say, or see if it's got a demo. Case in point: this is exactly how I stumbled upon the upcoming Donkey Kong Country-esque platformer Windswept last week, although instead of an email, I saw it on the growing "Your game is too much like..." thread over on Xwitter - which is definitely worth a browse if you have very niche interests in need of a good scratch.

Artificial intelligence (AI) was the buzzword of 2023, with the world's largest tech companies incorporating this technology into their suite of products. Consequently, we've not only seen the emergence of new AI tools such as AI chatbots, but also its embrace by legacy organizations such as Adobe, and Microsoft. Not just in tech, but AI is making waves in the automotive world as well. At the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 in Las Vegas, Amazon and BMW have announced a partnership that will see AI come into the fold. Know all about it.

France's antitrust regulator, Autorité de la Concurrence, has handed Japanese tech giant Sony a fine of 13.5 million Euros ($14.8 million) after finding it used its dominant position to corner the market, specifically in the realm of third-party PS4 controller manufacture.

Vivo's real success with its premium X series of smartphones took off with the X70 Pro+, in 2021. Back then, I compared it with Xiaomi's mega Mi 11 Ultra and the X70 Pro+ made good use of its unique gimbal stabilisation system (it also introduced its V1 imaging chip), which provided good stability while shooting video in all types of lighting conditions. Next up was the Vivo X80 Pro, which was a worthy successor to the same, it introduced features like a hand-held astrophotography mode and excelled at low light imaging using all 4 of its rear cameras. The Vivo X90 Pro which followed saw Vivo losing its focus missing some hardware essentials and struggling to deliver on the camera and performance front as well.

It's official: Bobby Kotick has left Activision Blizzard. After 32 years of leading the company, originally just Activision before the Blizzard merger, the controversial CEO is gone, having seen the Microsoft acquisition through to the end.

Apple may have crossed the $3 trillion valuation mark this year, making it the most valuable company in the world, but that does not mean the California-based firm had the most successful run in 2023 because other technology giants outperformed it by quite a fair margin. In fact, according to the latest report, Apple suffered its longest revenue slide in 22 years, with several challenges expected to make attempts at its growth in 2024.

Following a 14-year partnership, Blizzard and NetEase had a loud and controversial split in late 2022. The Chinese publisher operated Blizzard's games in China as the licensed partner required by the government. The announcement came in November 2022, revealing to angry fans that popular games such as Overwatch 2, Diablo III, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm would not be available any longer starting on January 23, 2023 across mainland China.

Huawei’s comeback has been noticed by industry insiders, and most notably, its competitors, as the Mate 60 flagship series and the Kirin 9000S SoC pairing created a sales storm in China, garnering immense popularity that allowed the company to post an incredible 90 percent growth in October. However, Huawei’s resurgence might not be as meteoric as one previously expected because the latest data reveals that Apple has three iPhone models that are in the top 5 best-selling spot for the region.