Gaming in county Summit. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

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City builder game Laysara: Summit Kingdom is now available in Early Access for PC via Steam, developer Quite OK Games announced. It is available at a 20 percent-off launch discount price of $15.99 until April 24, after which it will cost $19.99.

Laysara: Summit Kingdom, the promising mountain-themed city builder from developer Quite OK Games and publisher Future Friends Games, has surprise launched on Steam, where it's expected to remain in early access for between six and 12 months.

Laysara: Summit Kingdom, a breathtakingly gorgeous city builder set in a fantasy world inspired by the Himalayan region, is out now in Steam early access. The meditative mountain environments are the sort of tranquil backdrop I’d happily stare out for hours, possibly with a Bonobo album and some incense, which is helpful, because the actual game is aiming to be quite a challenge.

Nintendo shut down its Wii U eShop in March 2023 and will shut down the console’s online functionality today, April 8. Originally released in 2012, Nintendo’s Switch predecessor is officially being powered off. Yes, Wii U owners can still play games offline — and participate in the active Wii U modding scene — but Nintendo will finally be wiping its hands clean of its worst-selling console ever. (Nintendo sold just over 13 million Wii U consoles, at least one of which was purchased last year.)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting with Bill Gates shared how India took the lead in adopting new technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence. During a candid conversation at the prime minister's residence, Bill Gates praised Indians for proactively embracing technology to improve lifestyle. 

Intel has disclosed the compute performance that you would need to run Microsoft's Copilot locally on Windows-based AI PCs.

At the 2024 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, Amazon Games partnered with Black Voices in Gaming to provide sponsorships to underrepresented game devs and entrepreneurs, allowing them to attend the event and connect with some of the biggest names in the business.

AI roundup: Across the world, governments and corporates are looking to adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to power up growth and harness new areas of generating revenue. Now, a Google study reveals what India thinks about the new tech. It emerges that India has become the most hopeful country as far as AI is concerned. On the other hand, there are dangers present in this space too. OpenAI CEO has expressed his fear that AI could be dangerous if misalignments occur in technology goals and expectations. Know more about what happened in the AI-verse today.

The CEO of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said Tuesday that the dangers that keep him awake at night regarding artificial intelligence are the “very subtle societal misalignments” that could make the systems wreak havoc.

AI roundup: Countries around the globe are embracing artificial intelligence (AI) technology with gusto to catch up with others. Among the biggest worries is skilling. Now, Google has announced it is investing 25 mn euros in enhancing workers' knowledge about AI in Europe. At the same time, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says that countries should be developing their AI infrastructure to ensure strong economic growth. Know what's happening in the world of AI.

Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang anticipates advances in computing over the next few years will keep the cost of developing artificial intelligence well below the $7 trillion that Sam Altman is said to be fundraising.

At the end of last year, Wild Thieves by Monupon won the Very Big Indie Pitch: PC + Console Edition prize at Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019. Hailing from Saudi Arabia (but with team members in Canada too), Monupon’s Nasir Assaf joined the competition in Amman, Jordan, and swept to victory after half a day of pitching.

Development on the Sea of Stars DLC Throes of The Watchmaker is past the pre-production stage. Players who were captivated by Sea of Stars' retro charm have expressed excitement about the upcoming DLC.

Xbox hit Hi-Fi Rush is heavily rumored to be set for rival console the Nintendo Switch in 2024, sparking a vociferous debate about Microsoft’s exclusives strategy.

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Today, December 22, the artificial intelligence (AI) space is asking us deep, philosophical questions, as new developments point towards its innovative use cases and its internal nature. A talkative robot called ElliQ, created by Intuition Robotics, is helping senior citizens in the US combat loneliness by offering them companionship. AI for companionship is a hotly explored space, and it is something even Elon Musk has talked about. In other news, a coalition of scientists is raising serious questions about the AI consciousness. They say the answers to these questions will shed light on the ethical usage of the technology as well as help us guide AI safety measures.

The CEO of Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games’ parent company, says AI will help studios produce higher-quality games. However, he doesn’t believe it will make game development faster or cheaper.

Today, December 12, is a major date for artificial intelligence aficionados in India as the nation hosts the fourth Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Summit in New Delhi. The event started today and will conclude on December 14. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the opening day and highlighted the danger of the darker aspects of AI. Pointing out the need for safeguards in AI, PM Modi said we need to “bridge the gap between theory and practice on AI”. In other news, OpenAI announced at the GPAI Summit that the company will hold a developer gathering in Bengaluru in January. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

AI Roundup: Several notable developments took place in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) today, December 7. The EU's AI Act could exclude AI models that have an open-source license, according to a leaked compromise proposal seen by Reuters. In the US, despite AI implementation in drive-thru services by chains like Checkers and Carl's Jr., human involvement in fulfilling orders persists, accounting for over 70% of customer interactions in locations like the Philippines. On the other hand, Neverinstall introduced its Windows Cloud PC, aiming to challenge established Desktop-As-A-Service providers with AI integration and CloudLink for an advanced cloud-computing experience.

India is closing in on an agreement with Tesla Inc. that would allow the US automaker to ship its electric cars to the country from next year and set up a factory within two years, according to people familiar with the Indian government's thinking.

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Union Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal is scheduled to visit the US from November 13-17 to attend the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) ministerial meeting and has been invited to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in San Francisco.

The city-builder genre has been quite active in recent years. With the sprawling, freeform builder Cities: Skylines 2 out now and the more narrative-driven city planner Frostpunk 2 still on the way, there are plenty of options for city infrastructure enthusiasts to dive into.  Another intriguing take on the city-building game is the upcoming Laysara: Summit Kingdom from the three-person dev team Quite OK Games, and it's just been announced that it'll launch into early access on PC in early 2024.

Regulation of artificial intelligence has become a major pain point for governments worldwide. The EU passed the AI Act after months of deliberation. Yet, it faces criticism from major corporations, same with the AI executive order taken by the Biden administration, which was said not to do enough to ensure equality. Even the AI Safety Summit in the UK under PM Rishi Sunak was not able to reach a consensus on what exactly is the best way to regulate AI without crippling the enormous potential. Now, former US President Barrack Obama has shared his views as a lawman on how he thinks this tricky problem can be solved.

At the GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit in September, organisational psychologist Graham McAllister presented a talk entitled 'Game vision alignment: Its role in team effectiveness,' exploring how studios can improve their games by maintaining a clear vision of what they're creating.

 Nvidia Corp.'s dominance in artificial intelligence is causing “growing inequalities” between countries and is stifling fair competition, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire warned.

Elon Musk has been one of the most vocal figures warning us about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent times, which might cause us to perceive that he is an AI naysayer. However, the billionaire has an AI startup of its own called xAI which he launched in March 2023. While the goal of xAI was “to understand the true nature of the universe”, it has been developing its AI model in recent months. Now, xAI is all set to unveil its AI model, albeit to a select group.

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology for India has today signed a world-first agreement at the historic British landmark, Bletchley Park. The agreement establishes a shared understanding of the opportunities and risks posed by frontier Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the need for governments to work together to meet the most significant challenges.

While attending the AI Safety Summit in the UK as India's representative, Union IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar unexpectedly encountered Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The series of surprises did not stop there as the IT minister struck up a conversation with the billionaire and found out that Musk's son's middle name was the same as his last name - Chandrasekhar. The Union minister shared this strange coincidence online in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis hit back against criticisms from Meta Platforms Inc.'s chief AI scientist — who had criticized him and others in the industry for playing up the existential risks of the technology — calling them preposterous.

Tesla CEO and 'X' owner, Elon Musk said on Wednesday that Artificial Intelligence (AI) could endanger the existence of human civilisation. "There is some chance, above zero, that AI will kill us all. I think it's slow but there is some chance. I think this also concerns the fragility of human civilization. If you study history, you will realise that every civilisation has a sort of lifespan," he said.

On the first day of November, global-scale development on artificial intelligence was seen. At the UK AI Summit, global leaders from 28 different countries came together and committed to evaluating AI-related dangers together. In other news, billionaire Elon Musk, who is also at the AI Summit, reiterated his previous statement and called AI a risk. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

Ubisoft's Chief People Office Anika Grant will leave the publisher in November.

It might be the last day of October, and Halloween, but artificial intelligence stops for no one. In today's big news, Microsoft's enterprise Copilot, the Microsoft 365 AI assistant, will be rolling out to businesses tomorrow, November 1. This tool will enable organizations to automate a number of time-consuming tasks such as summarizing video calls, drafting emails, and more. In other news, Elon Musk will do an interview alongside the UK PM Rishi Sunak. The Tesla CEO will also be participating in the UK AI Summit. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

Saga, a Layer-1 blockchain protocol and developer ecosystem for Web3 games, has officially launched its incentivized testnet Pegasus.

Qualcomm unveiled its most powerful computing processor for PCs, the Snapdragon X Elite. In doing so, it’s taking on the hegemony of Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.

Qualcomm previewed a new feature at its Snapdragon Summit in Maui that promises a less fractured multiple-device lifestyle—as long as those devices run Android or Windows. 

MAUI—Qualcomm says its newest Snapdragon Sound technology will bring premium audio experiences to the next generation of mobile headphones.

In what turned out to be another interesting day in the artificial intelligence universe, this emerging technology touched diverse areas from policy making to medtech. The UK's AI Summit might be in trouble. After German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Joe Biden too may skip UK PM Rishi Sunak's AI meet. In other news, three music publishers have filed a lawsuit against Anthropic AI for using their copyrighted lyrics to train its Claude chatbot. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

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NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is expected to visit Taiwan, where he will reportedly attend Foxconn's yearly "Technology Day" event & expand collaboration with the company.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it: we're in a golden age of city builders. Whether you're into strategy, survival, story-driven campaigns, or even casual, no-stress construction sandboxes, there's never been a wider selection of city builders to choose from. And there are lots more on the way.

From autonomous bug zappers to android pianists and driverless ice-cream trucks, machines rule the world -- at least at China's Asian Games. The Games open Saturday after a one-year delay because of Covid with about 12,000 athletes and thousands of journalists, technical officials and spectators descending on Hangzhou.

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AI Roundup: Google is integrating its generative AI chatbot, Google Bard, into its suite of apps including Gmail, YouTube, Docs, and Maps through Bard Extensions; China has been invited to the UK's Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit in November, as the country aims to become a global leader in AI regulations; the Consumer Affairs Ministry in India is leveraging AI to reduce pending cases in consumer courts.

The G20 declaration consolidates a vision for the future improved by technology, responsible artificial intelligence and digital public infrastructure, according to the tech industry.

This Week in Business is our weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check every Friday for a new entry.

Google has begun public testing for its new Playables feature on YouTube, which brings games to the video platform.

According to the Delhi Traffic advisory, the city will go for a 3-day lockdown due to the G20 summit. There will be traffic and movement restrictions till September 10, according to the Delhi Police traffic advisory. While the whole event is taking place and restrictions are being made by the government, the people of Delhi have several queries about commuting to places during any urgency or even the airport. Delhi Police have advised people in the national capital region to utilize a maps app called Mappls MapmyIndia app. Know more about them here.

AI Roundup: World leaders attending the G20 Summit in Delhi will be welcomed by an artificial intelligence (AI) avatar that will provide an overview of the ‘Mother of Democracy' exhibition. Meta India's head has revealed that the social media giant is leveraging AI to curb hate speech and misinformation. In a separate development, two new AI models have been introduced to the public in China.

Former chairman of PlayStation Studios Shawn Layden has Thoughts and somewhat dire warnings about the videogame industry's future, though what exactly he means by "the videogame industry" is a little open to guesswork.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly growing technology and it has had an impact in nearly every sector. To keep up with the latest innovations, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani at its annual general meeting on Monday announced the company's plans to build AI-specific AI models and solutions across domains. 

The approach of Digital Public Infrastructure, which has gained global prominence, can also help in the area of climate adaptation and mitigation going forward, Chairman and Co-Founder of Infosys and the founding Chairman of UIDAI, Nandan Nilekani said on Sunday.

In a speech today, while addressing the B20 Summit India 2023, which was organised by CII, Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicated that a global framework for ethical use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) should be created even as he flagged concerns surrounding bias in this new technology that could severely impact society at large. He underlined the importance of the ethical use of AI to promote the good of everyone rather than a few. This can be achieved only if countries and businessmen work together for the common good. 

Breakneck development of artificial intelligence risked repeating mistakes made by the tech industry at the start of the social media era, Microsoft president Brad Smith told a business forum on Friday.

Artificial intelligence is being looked at in two ways globally. It is a great opportunity to boost productivity across the spectrum of human activity, but at the same time, this new tech has the potential to hurt humanity, and even cause its extinction. Caught in between are the developers who are actually working out the potential and how much they can milk it for profit. In this situation, a number of tech leaders have gathered in New Delhi to attend the B20 Summit India 2023 organised by CII.

Microsoft has partnered Sam Altman led OpenAI, a company that was famously funded by billionaire Elon Musk, to make rapid strides in the field of artificial intelligence. The company has taken up the cudgels against other tech majors including the likes of Google and Meta Platforms. This puts the company's president, Brad Smith, in the perfect position to speak on the issue that has divided the globe down the middle about its massive potential for good as well as an equal potential to do harm to humanity.

Natarajan Chandrasekaran is Chairman of the Board of the iconic Tata Sons. He has risen to that high office courtesy of years spent as the boss of TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), one of the biggest tech companies in India. Today, Chandrasekaran spoke in detail about what he thinks about the latest global tech rage - artificial intelligence. He was speaking as the Chair of the B20 Summit India 2023, an event that is currently ongoing in Delhi.

India has made rapid strides in technology and nothing indicates that more than the local tech titans like TCS, Infosys, Tech Mahondra, Wipro or HCL Tech. And there are hundreds of thousands of other companies, big and small, that have contributed immensely in improving India's digital footprint. The latest high-profile achievement was of course Chandrayaan-3 mission, in which the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully landed a lander and a rover on the moon even as Russia failed to do so with its Luna-25 spacecraft.

AI Roundup: Microsoft President Brad Smith today warned against the rapid development of AI as it could lead to tech companies making similar mistakes as the early years of social media. On the other hand, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna claimed that AI could not only increase productivity, but also lower business costs.

IBM is one of the oldest tech companies around and it had made its name well before the likes of Apple and Google rose to fame. Leading IBM is CEO Arvind Krishna, who is of Indian origin. Now, with artificial intelligence grabbing the attention of policy-makers, entrepreneurs to the common man, Krishna made some telling points.

India's Chandrayaan-3, which launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad in Sriharikota, is India's second attempt to touch down on the Moon, following the last-minute failure of the Chandrayaan-2 mission. The GSLV Mark 3 launch vehicle, named ‘Bahubali', carried the hopes and dreams of 140 crore Indians as it made a 3.84 lakh kilometer journey to the Moon, which took approximately 42 days. The propulsion module successfully separated from the lander module on August 17, and it will continue in its orbit, carrying out its own series of experiments. 

Kowloon Nights, London Venture Partners and Hiro Capital complete the speaker schedule for the GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit in Seattle.

The European Union's AI regulation has some predicting a spate of Brussels copycats. Close, but not quite.

There's just under two weeks left to take part in a new UK games industry salary benchmarking programme.

The GamesIndustry.biz team continues to grow as we are this week joined by Tanya Machinjike.