Gaming in Washington. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

Sony has showcased The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered’s new No Return mode and opened pre-orders for the game’s special edition.

GTA 6's trailer is drawing comparisons to similar locations from Vice City.

The Last of Us 2 Remastered's new roguelike mode features the original game's most feared enemy: the Rat King.

Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is out next month, but the W.L.F. Edition will soon be available to pre-order. A new trailer is available, unboxing the special physical edition and its contents. Check it out below, courtesy of the developer on Twitter.

Average Height, Average Build is no longer moving forward at Netflix.

By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.

In a surprising turn of events, Google has decided to postpone the highly-anticipated launch of its AI model, Google Gemini AI. Initially scheduled for release next week, the company has now rescheduled the launch to January. The initial announcement had come months ago during the annual I/O 2023 conference, where Google, alongside Alphabet co-founder Sergey Brin, introduced Gemini, the latest addition to its AI portfolio. The decision to delay the launch was attributed to concerns about the AI model's non-reliability in handling non-English queries. Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO, personally opted for the delay to ensure the global language support is robust, aiming to surpass the capabilities of OpenAI's GPT-4.

By Chris E. Hayner on

It's the first day of the last month of 2023, and we might be in for an exciting period in artificial intelligence space as companies continue developing this technology while protest groups keep highlighting its dangers. In the first news, Meta executives said that they found no downside to openly sharing its AI technology. This comes as the tech company keeps releasing open-source versions of its large language models. In other news, a group of visual artists has filed an amended lawsuit against text-to-image generating AI models after a US district judge dismissed parts of the lawsuit last month. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

Popular artificial intelligence (AI) image generator, Stable Diffusion, perpetuates harmful racial and gendered stereotypes, US scientists have found.

Are you someone who is dependent on Google Maps directions while on the road? Well, this can cause you serious trouble sometimes, especially if it directs you to an alternate route. Recently, a shocking incident came to the front when Google Maps sent a number of drivers in the US to a dangerous route. One of the passengers, who was stuck on that route shared a TikTok video informing about this ordeal. Check here to know about the whole incident.

India's space agency ISRO is exploring joint collaborations with Boeing Co., Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin LLC and Voyager Space Holdings Inc., as an official visit by the head of NASA highlights the growing level of cooperation between the US and India in outer space. 

A year after the history-making release of ChatGPT, the AI revolution is here, but the recent boardroom crisis at OpenAI, the super app's company, has erased any doubt that Big Tech is in charge.

Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang, who runs the semiconductor industry's most valuable company, said the US is as much as 20 years away from breaking its dependence on overseas chipmaking.

IPhone maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. plans to expand its footprint in India with another NT$50 billion ($1.6 billion) investment for construction projects.

The CEO of PC games giant Valve, Gabe Newell, is set to appear in court in the near future.

Valve's founder Gabe Newell was recentlyordered to ensure his in-court presence to testify in person for the ongoing lawsuit between Wolfire Games and Valve.

Valve boss Gabe Newell has been ordered to give an in-person deposition in regard to the ongoing antitrust lawsuit filed by Wolfire Games.

Valve's CEO, Gabe Newell, finds himself compelled to appear in person for a deposition in the antitrust lawsuit filed by Wolfire Games, developers of Overgrowth. Despite Newell's initial plea for a remote deposition due to COVID-19 concerns, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington deemed his evidence insufficient to establish a particularized risk of serious illness.

Gabe Newell has been ordered to attend an in-person deposition relating to Overgrowth developer Wolfire Games' antitrust lawsuit against Valve despite his request to do it remotely.

Valve CEO Gabe Newell has been ordered to attend an in-person deposition regarding an antitrust lawsuit filed by Wolfire Games.

American Truck Simulator rumbles ever-onward, and developer SCS Software has announced it'll be making its next stop, this time in the state of Kansas — the destination of its newest paid expansion — next Thursday, 30th November. Plus, its substantial 1.49 update — which adds a dynamic night sky, the moon, HDR skyboxes, and more — is out now.

We now have some new tidbits about next year’s Call of Duty.

The US must pursue strategic technological breakthroughs, such as a working quantum computer by 2028, to stay ahead of rivals like China and ensure its national security.

Released in 1992 for the Commodore Amiga and then a year later on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, the original Flashback was so groundbreakingly cinematic that it was initially advertised as being a “CD-ROM game on a cartridge.” Sadly its long-awaited sequel, Flashback 2, doesn’t break any new ground – but it does manage to break in almost every other way imaginable. Poorly presented, sloppily executed, and absolutely lousy with progress-stalling bugs, I’m not sure you could experience a Flashback more unpleasant than this even if you’d dropped all the acid at Woodstock.

Unlike Barbie, Ridley Scott doesn't think about dying.

Warner Bros has officially denied that the upcoming Wonder Woman video game will be a live service game.

The most damning evidence in the US antitrust trial against Alphabet Inc.'s Google that concluded in Washington this week came not from the parade of witnesses from Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and other companies, but from internal documents.

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. 

Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer Naughty Dog have announced The Last of Us Part II Remastered for PlayStation 5. It will launch on January 19, 2024. Users who already own The Last of Us Part II for PlayStation 4 can upgrade to The Last of Us Part II Remastered for $10. Save data can also be carried over.

Happy Friday, Polygon readers!

After a bevy of recent leaks, Naughty Dog and Sony have officially announced The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, which will bring the acclaimed action-adventure title to the PlayStation 5 in enhanced and expanded form a couple of months from now. And though the price of the remaster has yet to be officially confirmed, there’s some good news for those who already own the original game.

Following earlier leaks, Naughty Dog has officially announced The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered for PS5.

Executives from Microsoft Corp., Citigroup Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp. and other large multinationals are converging on San Francisco this week for an audience with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Asian leaders as long-frosty US-China relations show only tentative signs of warming.

 Google agreed to pay $8 billion over four years to Samsung Electronics Co. to make its search engine, voice assistant and Play Store the default on the company's mobile devices, according to testimony presented by Epic Games Inc. 

With the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike now over, has been cast as in ’s new Netflix movie.

It is an exciting time to be a Grand Theft Auto fan. After nearly 10 years of waiting, Rockstar Games finally announced the next GTA game, colloquially called GTA 6. The game's trailer is set to arrive in December, a month which also marks the 25th anniversary of Rockstar Games. While no other information about the game was revealed, last year's leaked footage has already given us a glimpse into the world of GTA 6, what it could offer, and what it could look like. So, if you've been patiently waiting for GTA 6, then know exciting details about it.

One of indie gaming's prominent media voices is going to be significantly quieter going forward, as Uppercut editor-in-chief Ty Galiz-Rowe today announced the site is shutting down its Patreon and will stop regularly publishing new content.

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.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. warned that a hoped-for smartphone market recovery is another year out, and that geopolitical tensions are fomenting a serious glut in global chipmaking capacity.

 Alphabet Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai is set to face a jury next week to defend Google Play app store policies that are at the heart of a high-stakes antitrust fight with Epic Games Inc.

The folks at Valve are big fans of Nintendo's Switch OLED handheld console.

wears its influences on its sleeve, and might be the one it's proudest of., which began airing in 1990, is part gentle soap opera satire, and part surreal murder mystery. But where the first was based on the first two seasons of, has more in common with the third season,. As a result, it has a somewhat different tone and narrative focus, but one thing that hasn't changed is just how much it ties back to the seminal series.

If you've been playing Alan Wake 2 you may have noticed just how pretty that game is. I'd go as far to say it's the best looking videogame of 2023. Developer Remedy has done incredibly well to make what could've been a very dull and dark world look vibrant and detailed, and has since divulged what's actually going on behind the scenes in the Northlight engine to achieve it. And boy, it's a lot.

Through various experiments, scientists have known that while asteroids have the potential to cause catastrophic damage if they impact Earth, these objects can also become a resource hub. Scientists study asteroids to learn more about the early solar system and the conditions that existed when the planets were forming. However, an entirely new experiment could mean that asteroids may also protect Earth from the Sun's intense rays, mitigating climate change! This move, ideated by astronomer Istvan Szapudi, from the University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy, proposes a space-based solar radiation management (SRM) shield or shade that is tethered to an asteroid as a counterweight.

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Four ex-Kotaku staffers are launching a new subscriber-based video games and culture publication: Aftermath. The website, which is now live, will be co-owned by Nathan Grayson, Gita Jackson, Riley MacLeod, and Luke Plunkett — all Kotaku mainstays who helped shape its incisive voice before leaving the site for one reason or another.

Did you know that you can see the asteroid sample collected by NASA up close? The NASA OSIRIS-REx spacecraft recently concluded a historic mission that involved landing on an asteroid, taking rock and dust samples, and delivering them back to Earth. Although NASA had initially run into trouble while opening the sample capsule, it has now obtained them, and a part of it has even been put up on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC! So, go ahead and view the historic samples yourself if you live nearby!

 In recent times, India has been making significant strides in the global tech manufacturing arena, with the introduction of Google's Pixel 8 manufacturing in the country. This development marks a pivotal moment in India's journey toward becoming a top-notch manufacturing hub for cutting-edge mobile technology, The Washington Times reported.

Coach Chuck Goldstein often finds himself jumping up and down on the sidelines of the field -- trying, in vain, to get his players' attention. That's because all but one of the players on the Gallaudet University American football team, in Washington, are all deaf or hard of hearing. "If our player is not looking at us, they're not gonna know what we're telling them," Goldstein tells AFP.

Alan Wake 2 is a mindf***. 

Godzilla Minus One rules, but it won’t hit American theaters until Dec. 1. Fortunately for our readers in the Los Angeles area, we have 40 tickets to the premiere on Nov. 10 at 8:30 p.m. PT at the Directors Guild of America. And we’re giving them away for free.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday called for urgent action to protect the public and democracy from the dangers posed by artificial intelligence, announcing a series of initiatives to address safety concerns about the technology.

It can be difficult keeping track of the various comings and goings in the games industry, which is why we compile them in semi-regular round-ups.

Google executives downplayed the company's artificial intelligence position during testimony at a landmark federal antitrust trial, saying the Alphabet Inc. company has tried to be slow and cautious because of the dangerous power of the technology.

Rishi Sunak plans to hold a live-streamed conversation with Elon Musk after his AI summit wraps up Thursday, lending some star power to an event that the British prime minister hopes could shape regulation of the emerging technology. 

Destiny 2 developer Bungie is laying off an unspecified number of people, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons confirmed Monday after employees began speaking up about the job cuts on social media.

GTA 6 leaks: The Grand Theft Auto series is one of the most popular game franchises of all time, selling hundreds of millions of copies. The latest entry into the series is GTA 5 which launched in 2013. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength, entertaining millions of players throughout the decade and becoming the second-best-selling video game of all time. Despite this massive popularity, the company behind the game has been very slow in releasing the next version and hardcore GTA fans have been left waiting. The sequel, called GTA 6, is expected to be released, but the launch date is still a secret. While there is hardly any official information out there, leaks and rumours have given a glimpse into Rockstar's next big game, leaving fans excited.

Can't come to Washington? Couldn't get a ticket to tour the White House? Don't worry.

China has stepped up spending to replace Western-made technology with domestic alternatives as Washington tightens curbs on high-tech exports to its rival, according to government tenders, research documents and four people familiar with the matter.

Starting this weekend, Hyundai is opening clinics in five US cities where drivers can take their vehicles for a software update it says will prevent the type of vehicle theft made popular on TikTok.

Face down the hordes of darkness with the help of our Alan Wake 2 guides.

According to NASA, an asteroid, given the designation of Asteroid 2023 UV6, is on its way towards Earth and will pass the planet at a close distance today, October 27. The asteroid was discovered by NASA's Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), which is responsible for monitoring the skies and keeping a watch on various Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). Asteroid 2023 UV6 is expected to pass the planet at a distance of 3.9 million kilometers while travelling at a speed of 26329 kilometers per hour, as per the space agency. Here's all about Asteroid 2023 UV6.

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. 

Artisan Studios, the French indie developer behind Astria Ascending and Super Neptunia RPG, has opened a new studio in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and is prepared to accept any criticism that might now come its way.

There aren’t many easy jobs in information security, but protecting people against nation-state attackers is the hardest of them all. And yet security researcher Runa Sandvik did not sound hopeless during a talk at a conference about the threat of intelligence agencies targeting commercial spyware at reporters, activists, and opposition politicians.

For as long as Jake Price has been a teacher, Wolfram Alpha — a website that solves algebraic problems online — has threatened to make algebra homework obsolete.

A former National Security Agency employee has pleaded guilty for trying to email state secrets to a Russian agent. 

ScaleAI aims to be America's AI arms dealer in race against China; AI to personalise sports betting by bringing Netflix-like experience to wagers; Wikipedia's citation woes may be solved by AI, study suggests; Insurers turn to AI to assess cognitive decline in aging drivers- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

It's hard to say whether one of 's greatest missed opportunities is an oversight or an intentional exclusion. The gamedoes its best to ease players into its lore. They can learn all the basics of the wider galaxy, right up to the nature of the ancient mysteries only solved at the ending of , from the first time they set foot in New Atlantis. However, since most are likely to revisit this major city multiple times across the course of the campaign, players can decide to pace exposition more slowly if they so choose.

Of late, many platforms that manage a large amount of data, especially social media platforms, news websites, and large blog sites have expressed their frustrations at bots being used by companies working with AI to crawl these platforms and scrape their data to train large language models (LLM). Many companies are asking to be paid by AI firms now. Among them is Reddit, whose senior officials recently met with AI companies to strike a deal, however, they have not yet been able to reach any agreement. A report claims that if Reddit cannot reach an agreement soon, it can block bots from crawling its site, even if it means that the platform will get delisted from Google and Bing search engines.

A Marvel's Spider-Man 2 player has found out just how helpful swing assist is after switching it off and breaking Peter Parker's spine. 

The Fallout franchise was born in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of America’s West Coast, and successive games went to expand out of California and explored regions like Nevada, Appalachia, Washington, and even outer space. Now, a whole host of Fallout characters are headed to the planar multiverse, showing up as part of four new Commander decks for Magic: The Gathering. Announced first in August, Wizards of the Coast on Thursday has unveiled the first details on these new products, which head to retail on March 8, 2024. They’re available for pre-order now.

A subset of taxpayers will be able to kick Intuit and its ilk to the curb and instead file their 2023 federal taxes online at no charge via a new Direct File option the Internal Revenue Service announced Tuesday.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 players are relieved to find out that you can skip puzzles whenever you want to in the upcoming sequel. 

With Halloween just around the corner, many are on the hunt for the perfect horror movie to usher in the spooky season. But as much as we like being scared, there’s another staple of the Halloween movie canon to consider: the Spoopy Movie.

In case you did not know, Microsoft now owns Activision Blizzard after announcing the plans over a year ago. With the merger now complete, Xbox owns some of the biggest gaming franchises, including Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft.

Fallout 76 began in the humble hills of Appalachia, but as the game continues, Bethesda is taking players to new locales through Expeditions. The first Expedition took place in The Pitt, a post-apocalyptic take on Pittsburgh that first featured in Fallout 3. The second Expedition is heading to Atlantic City in a two-part update. There, players will be forced to contend with new factions and enemies… when they’re not enjoying some downtime in a high-class casino.

Your blog can take on a new social-media life of its own if you publish it on WordPress.com. This commercial version of the open-source web publishing platform WordPress now offers an ActivityPub option to turn a blog into a fediverse presence on Mastodon and other federated social networks operating on the open standard.

The INDIA Alliance has written a scathing letter accusing the CEOs of Google and Meta Platforms, Sundar Pichai and Mark Zuckerberg respectively, that their platforms YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp are “aiding communal hatred”. The letter, which was signed by leaders from different political parties under the INDIA bloc also urged that the platforms should maintain neutrality in the upcoming elections. The letter came after the Washington Post newspaper highlighted the alleged bias of Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube towards the ruling BJP party and the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi.