Games for Change unveils new program to support underrepresented creators in mobile games

When thinking about AMC's involvement in the industry, you'd be forgiven for immediately picturing how it has licensed its star franchise, The Walking Dead, to several game studios over the years.

Spotify Technology SA's big leap into audiobooks is facing a backlash from US authors who fear they'll be short-changed by the streaming giant. Spotify began offering complimentary audiobooks to millions of customers in October as part of their monthly subscriptions. All of the so-called Big Five publishers signed on, with Penguin Random House LLC saying it was “excited” to place titles on the service. 

Wordle was a lockdown phenomenon: one of those games that, merits aside, simply landed at the right time. I've kicked the habit now but like pretty much everyone else I had a Wordle phase with the family WhatsApp group and, yes, when I'm nearly out of chances I have gone running to my six-letter friend Google. Wordle's enormous popularity was such that, in January 2022, the New York Times purchased the game from creator Josh Wardle for a sum «in the low seven figures.»

Investment giant The Carlyle Group is now reportedly looking to sell RuneScape maker Jagex.

Apple Inc. will stop selling the latest versions of its Apple Watch in the US due to a patent dispute, taking the devices off the market in the middle of the busy holiday season. Sales of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 will be halted on the company's online store on Dec. 21 and at its physical retail stores beginning on Christmas Eve, it said in a statement. The move comes ahead of the anticipated import ban of Apple Watch models with a blood oxygen sensor — a feature in the latest lineup — stemming from a legal battle with Masimo Corp. 

FNTASTIC has been working on their game The Day Before for the last five years. Two years ago, they released an announcement trailer that promised an artfully created massive online multiplayer where players would have to scavenge for survival in a world that a zombie apocalypse had destroyed. It sounded like it had the bones to be one of the most successful games launched this year, but The Day Before was one of the worst games ever ( and according to some, maybe even of all time).

Editor’s Note: Faster than we could publish our early access review, the developer announced it was shutting down and The Day Before was removed from sale . The servers remain up for those who have bought it and not yet refunded, but since our reviewer went to the trouble of playing it, it seems only right that you should get to read what he thought of the experience while it lasted.

On December 15th, viewers can stream 2 Days in New York, a romantic comedy film directed by Julie Delpy and starring herself and Chris Rock in a story revolving around a couple, Mingus Robinson and his French girlfriend Marion, who face mayhem when Marion’s parents visit New York. The film is a sequel to 2 Days in Paris, which was also directed by Delpy.

G7 leaders forge historic international rules for generative AI; Tech giants fail to deliver on ethical AI promises, according to a Stanford report; Amazon CEO foresees transformative impact of generative AI on customer experiences; New York partners with intuition robotics to combat senior loneliness with AI companions- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

Fortnite’s more than just a battle royale game, a sandbox survival game with Lego, and a metaverse playground where you can watch a giant Eminem perform. It’s also an arcade racer now, thanks to the addition of Rocket Racing, a new game in Fortnite built by the team behind Rocket League.

You could say that Cyberpunk 2077 hasn't had the easiest of rides. Perhaps after the years of hyperbole that was deserved, but what can't be denied is that CD Projekt Red re-trenched after the initial reception, stuck by the game, and has delivered consistent improvements that all led up to this year's major 2.0 update. That was supposed to be the end of it but a few days ago, surprise surprise, patch 2.1 popped up with even more improvements: and a little bit of meme history.

After the McCallisters found Kevin again in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, a third installment was released five years later. However, there was no Macaulay Culkin or even the McCallister family in general. Instead, a new character, eight-year-old Alex, was the boy to defend his home from criminals. It’s been 26 years since Home Alone 3 came out, and audiences are still arguing about it.