Gaming in Eu. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

Meta Platforms was told by EU tech regulators on Friday to provide more details on measures taken to tackle child sexual abuse material on its photo and video sharing app Instagram by Dec. 22 or risk a formal investigation under new EU online content rules.

Blizzard has locked the NA Crusader Strike realm, preventing new players from being created. The Crusader Strike RP-PvP realm was so overloaded with players on launch day, Blizzard made a second RP-PvP Realm called Chaos Bolt on both NA and EU. Additionally, EU Realms Living Flame and Lone Wolf are also locked to new players temporarily.

The time has  arrived for ArcheAge and ArcheAge: Unchained to merge into a single experience. The decision comes after Kakao Games asked for community feedback on merging the two, and internal analysis and preparations made over the past couple of months. The changes will be accompanied by a series of events to help everyone get started in the new ArcheAge, in particular helping players who might have been affected by some of the merges  although the company worked to minimize lost items.

None of the Above, EU Guild on Wild Growth has achieved world first Blackfathom Deeps. In just under 18 hours, None of the Above was able to hit level 25 and clear Blackfathom Deeps, slaying the final boss Aku'mai. We've also included the Warcraft Logs of the kill below -- Warcraft Logs Blackfathom Deeps

The Trading Post is now live on EU servers, but as of the time of writing, vendors are missing the Crimson Glimmerfur, a red fox mount. Update: This appears to have been hotfixed — the Crimson Glimmerfur is now on the Trading Post! The Crimson Glimmerfur was revealed by Blizzard as one of the December 2023 trading post rewards.

Phil Spencer has confirmed that Microsoft’s gaming division is already looking for partners to join their mobile store.

During the 2023 Comic Con Experience (November 30 - December 3) in São Paulo, Brazil, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer spoke with Bloomberg's Rachel Gamarski to confirm the company's strategy to build an Xbox mobile store with the help of like-minded partners.

The Trading Post is now live on EU servers, but as of the time of writing, vendors are missing the Crimson Glimmerfur, a red fox mount. The Crimson Glimmerfur was revealed by Blizzard as one of the December 2023 trading post rewards.

To help alleviate overburdened population caps, Blizzard has announced that they are add a new Season of Discovery RP-PvP realm for NA and EU regions called Chaos Bolt.

WoW Classic Season of Discovery is now live, and we have realm names for NA, EU, and TW servers! Even if you can't play yet, take a look and decide where your next home will be for Classic's next great adventure!

We are less than five hours away from the launch of Season of Discovery! Our extensive Season of Discovery Overview covers all new content coming with Season of Discovery, including new Class Roles, Rune Engraving, and much more.

The Great Vault is a vital part of World of Warcraft’s endgame and a key way for players to improve their character and take on the game’s more challenging content.

NIS America has revealed that the HD Remaster of the 2015 3DS RPG The Legend of Legacy will release on March 22, 2024. The previously handheld-only turn-based RPG will come to Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC early next year. The March 22 release date is for both NA and EU regions, while the JP release is scheduled for February 1. NIS America also released a gameplay trailer showing off the remastered visuals of The Legend of Legacy.

Blizzard has announced exactly what time Season of Discovery will launch! Season of Discovery Realms will go live at 1 PM PST on Thursday, November 30th! If you'd like to learn more about Season of Discovery, check out our guides and talent calculator with SoD Runes below -- Season of Discovery Overview Wowhead Talent Calculator

Late last week, the New World team announced a round of server merges that are intended to follow population normalization following the Rise of the Angry Earth expansion back in October. These changes come ahead of Season 4, Eternal Frost, and will begin in most regions starting today.

Bolstering their technology collaboration, India and the European Union (EU) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the semiconductor ecosystem today, November 24. The initial agreement was signed by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav and the EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton. As part of the agreement, both India and the EU will share experiences and best practices, and identify areas for collaboration to bolster the semiconductor ecosystem among other action points.

Ubisoft has responded to reports that they seem to have added pop-up ads to their games, that work while you are in the middle of playing a game.

WoW Tokens provide a way for players to quickly get gold and game time in a safe way that helps keep the game’s economy thriving. To help you fully understand how this item works, we’ve put this guide together detailing everything you need to know about WoW Tokens.

Fractured Online  player cities were deleted as the result of a hack and the team has promised to get the servers back up and explain just what happened. Dynamight Studios has continued updating the community. Getting the game back online has finally happened, after extended maintenance.

Google's AI-powered GraphCast revolutionises weather forecasts for unprecedented accuracy; South African University students embrace AI for engaged learning; AI-generated list ranks Neymar among top 10 most skillful footballers in history; Macron urges balanced AI regulation as EU navigates AI act- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look..

Sam Altman, the just ousted CEO of OpenAI, is discussing a possible return to the company behind the ChatGPT bot even as he considers launching a new artificial intelligence (AI) venture, a person briefed on the matter said on Saturday.

X (formerly Twitter) has once again found itself in troubled waters courtesy its billionaire owner, Elon Musk. Ever since the Israel-Hamas conflict began, the social media platform has been filled with hate posts, propaganda, and misinformation. But recently, brands have pulled the plug on advertising on the platform citing antisemitism as a big reason. Recently, IBM, Disney, Warner Bros., Discovery, and EU pulled ads, and now Apple has joined the list as well, as per a report. Incidentally, the big chunk of the advertisers exiting came after company owner Elon Musk replied in support of a post accusing Jewish people of hating white people.

Advertisers are fleeing social media platform X over concerns about their ads showing up next to pro-Nazi content and hate speech on the site in general, with billionaire owner Elon Musk inflaming tensions with his own tweets endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

Google has been pushing Apple to adopt RCS for years, and the Cupertino giant has resisted the idea. Apple appears to have changed its mind and stated that the support for Rich Communication Services or RCS standard will arrive next year on all iPhone models. We suspect the company will implement changes in iOS 18 for compatible models. RCS will boast many benefits in the messaging scheme, particularly with Android.

Amazon is the driving force behind a trio of advocacy groups working to thwart Microsoft's growing ambition to become a major cloud computing contractor for governments, a Bloomberg analysis shows.

For the last decade, nothing has kept people loyal to—or trapped in—the Apple ecosystem more than iMessage. Apple's messaging app creates a harsh divide between other iPhone users (beautiful blue bubbles, messages sent over data, integrated file sharing and encryption and more) and Android users (green bubbles, ancient unencrypted SMS) whose presence in a group chat would ruin everyone else's access to those advanced features. If Apple was ever going to bring down the walls around iMessage, I figured it would be a dramatic moment in one of its annual keynotes—not on a random Thursday, which happens to be today.

The first boss of Amirdrassil has been defeated on Mythic difficulty by blue shoe of Illidan (NA), taking down Gnarlroot early this morning! Congratulations to them and hopefully we'll see some more Mythic boss kills later today!

Steam Deck OLED, Valve's updated handheld gaming device, is launching later this week. Ahead of the Steam-powered console's release, Valve has unveiled release timings. The handheld gaming device will be available to purchase November 16 at 10am PST in the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe via the Steam store. To combat scalpers who purchase newly launched devices in bulk to resell them at a markup, the company has limited purchases so each customer can only buy one model per week. Additionally, the company has announced a limited-edition version, featuring a smoky translucent case, available for $679 (about Rs. 56,500). This is available only in the US and Canada.

Valve has revealed the time when fans can expect to purchase the Steam Deck OLED, which was recently announced for a November 16 release. The announcement came with a renewed promise to combat bots and resellers, which have been an ongoing concern amid major releases like this one.

With rising pressure from European regulations, Apple might allow users to sideload apps on their iPhones next year. If you are unfamiliar, sideloading refers to downloading apps from outside Apple's stock App Store, giving users more options while compromising security. Prominent industry analyst Mark Gurman claims that Apple could allow app sideloading in the first half of 2024. This is not the first time we have heard details on the matter, as Apple has legally worked to move away from the decision for the past few years.

Omeda Studios announced the PlayStation closed beta for Predecessor, a third-person multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), is coming on December 5.

Clockmaker developer Belka Games is teaming up with environmental campaigner dots.eco to launch a Save the Turtles event this November. 

Hydrogen-powered heavy lorries were once seen as the future of emissions-free road transport but they could soon be relegated to niche markets in Europe, overtaken by electric trucks.

The EU added Meta and Snap to a growing list of tech companies it is probing to see how they are complying with a new law meant to stop illegal content online. The European Commission said it has sent formal requests for information to Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, and Snap, which runs the Snapchat image and messaging app, on what measures they have taken to protect minors online. They have until December 1 to reply.

 Apple Inc. is set to challenge the European Union's fresh crackdown on Big Tech's dominance in the first of what is expected to be several appeals against the Digital Markets Act.

Google — under fire in court for allegedly resting on its laurels thanks to its 90% market dominance — only made an effort to beef up the quality of its search engine in the European Union after being hit by a record antitrust fine, according to internal documents revealed in the US Justice Department's monopolization case against the tech giant.

 Apple Inc. risks having to pay a €13 billion ($14 billion) tax bill to Ireland after an adviser to the European Union's top court said the iPhone maker's victory in an earlier challenge should be thrown out.

 Google — under fire in court for allegedly resting on its laurels thanks to its 90% market dominance — only made an effort to beef up the quality of its search engine in the European Union after being hit by a record antitrust fine, according to internal documents revealed in the US Justice Department's monopolization case against the tech giant.

Apple has finally caved to the Digital Markets Act, or DMA, and expects to bring some changes to the App Store policies to comply with the EU’s new ruling. Evidence that the company has decided to alter its platform regulations comes in the form of a 10-K financial form, with details present under the ‘Business Risks’ section. This effectively means that the App Store might finally be open to third-party platforms and the possibility of iMessage being interoperable with other messaging services, along with other changes.

Imagine a game where you will have to build an Ark to move to a safer location however time is against you as the water level continues to rise, and you are running out of resources slowly as the lands slowly sink. Forever Entertainment gave us this opportunity in Flooded which is now available on Nintendo Switch.

Google has been facing a lot of heat. regarding its revenue-sharing agreement with various smartphone brands. The charges claim that the deals made by the company limit the competition from rival services. Now, a company employee has agreed that these agreements are actually there to help Android phones fight iOS.

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.

Electronics makers Siemens, Ericsson and Schneider Electric, along with industry group DigitalEurope warned on Monday that onerous proposed EU rules targeting cybersecurity risks of smart devices could disrupt supply chains on a scale similar to during the pandemic.

Social media researchers have canceled, suspended or changed more than 100 studies about X, formerly Twitter, as a result of actions taken by Elon Musk that limit access to the social media platform, nearly a dozen interviews and a survey of planned projects show.

 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.

Amazon and Facebook owner Meta have both voluntarily committed to changes to their retail platforms to help "protect fair competition", Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced on Friday.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak championed a series of landmark agreements after hosting the first artificial intelligence (AI) safety summit but a global plan for overseeing the technology remains a long way off.

Apple on Thursday reported that sales fell for the fourth consecutive quarter when compared to the prior year, but profit rose on the back iPhones and services.

The European data regulator has agreed to extend a ban imposed by non-EU member Norway on "behavioural advertising" on Facebook and Instagram to cover all 30 countries in the European Union and the European Economic Area, it said on Wednesday.

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.

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) — all 66 pages of it — was activated almost exactly a year ago, became generally applicable this year on May 2, and will start to be enforced around March of next year. Its aim, of course, is to regulate major online platforms and gatekeepers, and the goal is to establish fair competition, consumer protection and data privacy. It’s pretty certain that the online global gaming industry, in which developers and game studios are profoundly affected by platform dynamics, will feel the brunt of the changes wrought by the DMA.

Amazon Games and Bandai Namco have announced a Blue Protocol closed technical test for North American and European players starting on November 8th. 

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.

By Jon Porter, a reporter with five years of experience covering consumer tech releases, EU tech policy, online platforms, and mechanical keyboards.

Vice President Kamala Harris, in a speech in London, will lay out the burgeoning risks related to artificial intelligence, calling for international cooperation and stricter standards to protect consumers from the technology.

By Jon Porter, a reporter with five years of experience covering consumer tech releases, EU tech policy, online platforms, and mechanical keyboards.

Meta is responding to "evolving European regulations" by introducing a premium subscription option for Facebook and Instagram from Nov. 1.

 Broadcom Inc. said on Monday that it expects its $61 billion deal to buy software maker VMware Inc. to close before a November deadline, working to reassure investors amid concerns that a slowdown in China's review process could quash the deal. 

BlizzCon 2023 arrives this weekened and we’ll be updating right here throughout the show with the latest World of Warcraft news and coverage from the event.

US unveils unprecedented global initiative for AI safety; UK PM rolls out initiative to invest in AI classroom tools to ease teacher workloads; UK gears up to host international summit for AI leaders; Japan newspaper association advocates regulations on generative AI- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

By Jon Porter, a reporter with five years of experience covering consumer tech releases, EU tech policy, online platforms, and mechanical keyboards.

Meta Platforms Inc. will offer users in Europe ad-free access to Facebook and Instagram for a subscription fee. 

Now that Microsoft has officially acquired Activision Blizzard King, the rumour mills are swirling about what’s next. Much of that talk has centred on Microsoft’s plans for Xbox on mobile, given that King was actually one of the key reasons Microsoft was so keen on the acquisition.

Each week, we scour the internet for all things indie MMO-related, so you don’t have to. This week, it’s all about Halloween in the Indie MMO Universe. Multiple indie MMOs will be holding events to celebrate the holiday, and just in case that isn’t enough of a treat, I also put together a Halloween event guide that covers the major MMOs (shameless plug). In addition to holiday events, Foxhole heads to the seas, Ember Sword goes deep, and Palia opened up dedicated EU servers. Plenty of other stuff is also going on, so let’s quit wasting time and get started with this week’s Indie MMO Spotlight.

A tax that pulverized digital-asset trading in India has proved counterproductive and ought to be lowered, according to CoinDCX, a domestic exchange that was valued at over $2 billion before the levy was imposed.

President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Monday requiring AI tools complete security testing before federal agencies use them, according to a draft copy of the order obtained by Bloomberg Government, his most significant step to date to rein in the emerging technology.

It's common knowledge that Google pays Apple to be the default search engine on Apple devices, but the exact amount has been the subject of much debate. Typical guesses are north of $10 billion, but two sources tell The New York Times that the bill was "around $18 billion" in 2021.

As we get ready to enter the weekend, let us take a moment to go over all the major artificial intelligence-related developments today, October 27. In the first incident, notable experts in the field of technology in India have been named to a new global advisory body. The UN body was announced by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. In other news, imaging data software provider Quibim has come together with Philips to launch AI-powered imaging and reporting solutions for MR prostate examinations. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

BlizzCon 2023 is almost here and we’ll be updating right here throughout the show with the latest World of Warcraft news and coverage from the event.

Sonic the Hedgehog's archenemy, Dr Robotnik (also known as Eggman), will shave his iconic moustache for Movember, Sega has revealed.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.-N.Y.) had a few things to say Thursday morning about what the federal government should be doing to tame AI, but first he had to wait through an uncanny opening act: AI versions of himself. 

With just a touch of bravado, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (or Europol) has announced «a major blow» to the Ragnar Locker ransomware group. To you and me, that name is mostly familiar because of the organisation's 2020 attack on Capcom, which saw it demand $11 million and affect around 400,000 people's data. 

European police have «taken down» the gang of ransomware attackers responsible for 2020's high-profile Capcom hack, which saw confidential employee information and details on a swathe of upcoming games splashed across the internet.

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 launches this week with a number of issues, Konami has said. Post-launch updates are planned to address them.

The Snapdragon X Elite is said to be the official name of Qualcomm’s high-end chipset tailor-made for PCs and the company’s first to feature its custom Oryon cores that were developed to rival Apple’s M-series. A detailed list of its specifications has been shared, including a CPU and GPU that is supposedly twice as fast as x86 processors. While the marketing might be ambiguous, let us dive into the details and find out more.

PlayStation has been one of Sony's most successful ventures in the last few decades. Its consoles have garnered a massive following, with the latest launches being in high demand. Just a few days ago, Sony introduced an updated version of the PlayStation 5 (PS5), offering the same gaming experience and processing power in a smaller and more compact form factor. Apart from physical releases, the gaming giant also offers games digitally for purchase via its PlayStation Store. Every month, Sony releases a list of the top 10 most downloaded games of the past month among users in the US/Canada and the EU.

European Spidey fans are struggling to install Marvel's Spider-Man 2 from physical discs.

WHO issues guidelines on regulating AI for health; AI-fueled information manipulation looms over EU elections; Google's generative AI threatens publishers' survival; Universal Music sues AI startup Anthropic over copyright infringement- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

There has been a lot of activity recently from EU and UK legislators with each seeking to outdo the other with new laws being introduced at every turn. There is also increasing regulatory activity and enforcement relevant for the games industry, with consumer regulators building capabilities through investment into technology and staff.

With Twitter's blue checkmark no longer conveying as much authority as it used to, the service's Community Notes feature is perhaps the next best way to know if what you're reading in a tweet is legit. But where are these crowd-sourced posters getting their data?