Some video game actors are letting AI clone their voices. They just don't want it to replace them

Amazon's upcoming TV take on Fallout continues to look incredible, and we appear to be on the precipice of a bold new world in which video game adaptations, like HBOs The Last of Us, don't have to be terrible. Over three minutes, the insanity and «vibe» of the bizarre post-apocalyptic setting are damn-near perfectly captured, and we can't help but get our hopes up for this one.

Since his tumultuous takeover of Twitter, Elon Musk has made an unabashed turn to the right politically, defying the orthodoxy that Silicon Valley is a citadel of well-heeled liberals beholden to Democrats. Long considered non-identifiable ideologically, Musk's politics are now hardline right wing as he uses his platform (now called X) to stoke the themes cherished by Fox News, conservative talk radio and far right movements across the West.

TikTok once again finds itself in a precarious position. This time, it comes in the form of legislation that would ban the popular social media platform if it doesn't break ties with ByteDance, its Beijing-based parent company. On Thursday, a House panel unanimously approved a bipartisan bill that would require the Chinese firm to divest TikTok and other applications it owns within six months of the bill's enactment in order to avoid a nation-wide ban. The legislation also creates a process that lets the executive branch prohibit access to other apps that pose a threat to national security.

A new chart from the Entertainment and Retail Association has revealed the digital and physical sales splits for the 20 best-selling games in the UK.

You could be forgiven for thinking the video game industry is collapsing, and you may be wondering why. Last week, PlayStation announced it was laying off over 900 employees and shutting its long-running London Studio, and it’s not alone. There have been thousands upon thousands of jobs cut across the entire industry, and virtually every major publisher and platform holder has been affected. So, why is it happening and what does it all mean?

Arrowhead Game Studios has said that it knew that Helldivers 2's game master would be «divisive» with players.

Many Helldivers 2 fans were surprised to learn that the game's wars are being directed by a D&D-style game master named Joel, and some still aren't sure how to feel about it. The devs behind the game say they knew the system was going to be divisive, but it adds a very unique dimension to the battle against the bugs and bots.

From genomic information to internet-connected cars, the United States is rethinking its data protection policies -- with further trade curbs aimed at China in the cards -- as tech like AI brings new risks.

The developer of Stardew Valley has a hack for composers who want to get people to listen to their music; all you have to do is make an entire game from scratch. 

Nobuo Uematsu, the celebrated composer behind the iconic soundtracks for much of the Final Fantasy series, has said he probably won’t score a full video game again. While Uematsu didn’t rule out creating the main themes for future games, he said that his days of scoring an entire game are likely over - leaving his last complete soundtrack as the OST for mobile-exclusive RPG Fantasian.

 Tinder is expanding its identity verification program at a time when artificial intelligence (AI) can make it hard to tell who's real and crime is rising on dating apps. Tinder, the world's most popular dating platform, is rolling out the system in the US, the UK, Brazil and Mexico over the coming weeks and months. It's already been testing the feature in Australia and New Zealand, where people who had been verified saw a 67% increase in matches compared to those who didn't, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Console gaming is dying.