Country News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

A sophisticated Apple iPhone scam has emerged in Iran, amassing a staggering $35 million, with celebrities unwittingly roped in to endorse the fraudulent scheme. Exploiting the absence of Apple's official presence due to US sanctions, the orchestrator of the scam has been traced by Iranian authorities, paving the way for potential extradition through Interpol.

After the huge success of the BLUETTI AC500, which set a crowdfunding record of $12 million on Indiegogo, BLUETTI is back to shake things up by launching its first ecosystem SwapSolar on February 21 at PST 6 am. First unveiled at CES 2024, the SwapSolar includes the world's first LFP-powered MultiCooler portable fridge and the AC180T hot-swappable battery power station. This groundbreaking duo offers an unprecedented blend of convenience and functionality for outdoor activities.

 private lander on Thursday made the first U.S. touchdown on the moon in more than 50 years, but managed just a weak signal back until flight controllers scrambled to gain better contact.

Uber Technologies Inc. wants to quicken an expansion into the cheaper but potentially larger market for two- and three-wheeled rides in India, extending a long-running rivalry with local provider Ola.

Tekken project executive game director Katsuhiro Harada has spoken about Tekken 8’s issue with “pluggers” — those who disconnect mid-match when they’re about to lose in order to avoid recording a loss — and stated that improvements are coming. 

If you’re a streamer on Twitch and you’re somehow managing to make money off it, it seems there’s a bit of good news on the horizon. Well, provided you’re based in the UK, Canada, Australia, or Turkey. However, if you’re a subscriber to streamers, this may sting a little.

Twitch has announced it will increase the price of channel subscriptions for the first time next month.

Twitch subscriptions are getting more expensive in select countries starting March 28, and the US may be one of the regions seeing a price increase in the near future. These updated prices for Twitch subscriptions will «help streamer revenue keep pace with rising costs» and account for inflation in several countries, according to Twitch.

US games giant Activision Blizzard is making over 130 people redundant from its office in the Republic of Ireland.

So what is True Detective, really? Before this year, it felt like a collection of aesthetic trappings. Two cops played by prominent actors. A crime spanning multiple timelines. Some kind of weird fiction/supernatural horror bent. Thematically, the anthology’s concerns shifted from season to season, their strongest throughlines being heavy ruminations on masculinity. But in its final, stunning hour, True Detective: Night Country tries to buckle down and answer, once and for all, what True Detective is really about — by going back to where it all started.

Despite the name, True Detective has really never been about tying up every loose end to a mystery. Sure, the detectives at the heart do their damnedest, but if you’re here for procedural and ethical police work, you’re probably barking up the wrong tree; this tree is more about glimpsing supernatural terror, refracted through the prism of human cruelty and violence.

In a significant development within the gaming industry, more than 700 unionized employees at Ubisoft's various studios across France have embarked on a coordinated strike. The catalyst behind this organized action stems from the breakdown of annual salary negotiations, prompting discontent among Ubisoft's workforce.

Intel has reportedly demanded further subsidies from the Biden administration under the CHIPS Act as the firm ramps up developments in setting facilities in the US.

It's not just you. A lot people think Google searches are getting worse. And the rise of generative AI chatbots is giving people new and different ways to look up information.

UAE backs Sam Altman's vision, aims to lead the world on AI regulation; IBM report reveals 59% of Indian enterprises actively using AI; Microsoft pledges $3.44 billion investment in Germany, focusing on AI boost; Google unveils internal AI 'Goose' to accelerate employee coding efficiency- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

A state-of-the-art airship hovers above a vast toxic dust cloud, shrouding an ecologically devastated Earth. That’s what most people notice when they see Forever Skies for the first time. And while this creates an interesting and unique premise to explore, it’s one that was inspired by rather somber real-world circumstances.

With today's weekly reset for the EU servers, players were surprised to see their ability to exchange WoW Tokens to Battle.net balance supposedly removed. This isn't a change announced by Blizzard, so it may be a bug. This change hasn't affected NA/OCE realms yet. While it is possible this is a bug with the WoWToken system, it is weird that this change is reflected in different places in the game's UI for European players. Without an official announcement from Blizzard, it is hard to know whether this is a change for the retail WoWToken. This may be a change, as the Wrath Classic WoWToken already behaves this way for every region, being able to be redeemed only for Game Time and not Battle.net Balance.

With today's weekly reset for the EU servers, players were surprised to see their ability to exchange WoW Tokens to Battle.net balance supposedly removed. This isn't a change announced by Blizzard, so it may be a bug. This change hasn't affected NA/OCE realms yet. While it is possible this is a bug with the WoWToken system, it is weird that this change is reflected in different places in the game's UI for European players. Without an official announcement from Blizzard, it is hard to know whether this is a change for the retail WoWToken. This may be a change, as the Wrath Classic WoWToken already behaves this way for every region, being able to be redeemed only for Game Time and not Battle.net Balance.

Fintech holds the promise of transforming how people manage their finances by reaching every corner of the country. However, is India there yet? Challenges abound, but, complex as they are, financial systems of the country can push to bridge the financial inclusion gap.

Panic has announced that its Playdate handheld is back in stock and available to purchase “for a limited time”.

Upcoming PS5 exclusive Stellar Blade will reportedly be rated for adults only, due to nudity and violence. 

The bizarre PS5 indie game INDIKA is back with a fresh trailer showcasing how the third-person action adventure plays, and it appears just as invitingly strange as its original pitch last year. Playing as a nun with the devil as your companion, you'll go on a journey of self-discovery in 19th-century Russia. Check out the gameplay trailer above.

Before she crafted the icy horror of True Detective: Night Country, showrunner Issa López made her mark with a wrenching horror fable about children facing off against human traffickers. Released in 2017, Tigers Are Not Afraid would become the writer-director’s calling card, a bleak horror-fantasy that established López’s knack for atmosphere and revealing characters via the things they dread. It also broke my damn heart.

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.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's tour of India has put the spotlight on artificial intelligence and he has highlighted the abilities of the country's technology workforce to provide transformational economic growth and that too at good speed. India could be one of the countries that can benefit significantly from AI which may also result in solving the country's distinctive structural issues according to Nadella. In a number of interviews over the last few days, Nadella has said that he believes India, with its wide range of talent and massive developer community, could give major competition to developed countries even in this space and achieve transformational change. So, even though India initially missed the digital bus when it came Internet, computers, smartphones and more, currently, on AI, the country is right at the forefront of progress being made. At the Microsoft CEO Connection event in Mumbai, Nadella said, “This is the first time I feel what's happening in India and what's happening in the rest of the world—there is no impedance (delay), there is no gap.”

We’re currently in the midst of the winter season, when the temperatures drop and the night grows darker and longer, clawing away more and more precious minutes of sunlight. It’s the perfect time of the year for True Detective: Night Country, the fourth season of the crime drama anthology starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. This season has already done a lot to differentiate itself from past storylines, with nods to the supernatural interspersed with prominent callbacks to the series’ first season.

There’s nothing on television quite like the moment in a thriller when a character finally breaks and does something even they didn’t know they were capable of. For True Detective: Night Country, that moment arrives late in episode 5, and it hits just about every character at the exact same time.

Wargaming and MMORPG.com have teamed up to give away 25 bonus item codes with in-game loot worth up to $50 to celebrate the MMO's 10-year anniversary.

Wargaming and MMORPG.com have teamed up to give away 25 bonus item codes with in-game loot worth up to $50 to celebrate the MMO's 10-year anniversary.

As the new year kicks into high gear with an amazing slate of PS5 game releases like The Last of Us Part II Remastered, Tekken 8 and Helldivers 2, along with FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth later this month, we’re pleased to roll out another PS5 system software beta today with a number of quality-of-life enhancements and new features.

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.

Phrases like “user acquisition company” and “data and insights” don’t tend to quicken the pulse, but you know what does? 

Cardy, Matt, and Jesse have been blowing loads up aliens up in Helldivers 2 and having a bloody laugh doing it, too. There's also a big delve into the first couple of chapters of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and whether it lives up to the high standards of Remake. Plus, there's also plenty of time to look back at Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, chat about True Detective: Night Country, natter about The Iron Claw, and break huge chocolate biscuit news.

AI roundup: Satya Nadella will be visiting India as part of his annual visit on February 7, 2024. On his agenda would be to explore various AI opportunities and for that, he would be meeting leaders in Indian startups space. Chinese authorities have started the approval process for AI models and already approved 40 models. Know more about AI happenings here.

A new report looking into how games are consumed in French-speaking African countries Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and Cameroon shows a clear preference for free-to-play titles, in an ecosystem dominated by Android.

It seems relatively routine — some “hillbillies” scuffling in the waiting room of a hospital, calling Danvers (Jodie Foster) away from an interrogation. Navarro (Kali Reis), left behind to monitor the bedridden victim, pokes her head around the corner, craning to see the commotion. And then, behind her, the man in the hospital bed suddenly sits up.

Apple is set to introduce substantial changes to its ecosystem in the European Union, scheduled to roll out by March 6. One of the notable modifications is to allow iPhone users to sideload apps from third-party stores, a departure from Steve Jobs' original stance due to security concerns. The shift is part of iOS 17.4, primarily targeting EU countries, and aims to enhance user flexibility while maintaining security standards.

Once every year, a select group of nuclear, climate and technology experts assemble to determine where to place the hands of the Doomsday Clock. Presented by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Doomsday Clock is a visual metaphor for humanity's proximity to catastrophe. It measures our collective peril in minutes and seconds to midnight, and we don't want to strike 12. In 2023, the expert group brought the clock the closest it has ever been to midnight: 90 seconds. On January 23 2024, the Doomsday Clock was unveiled again, revealing that the hands remain in the same precarious position.

Despite being a gamer my entire life, I’m still relatively new to the fighting game genre. I put countless hours into Super Smash Bros. Melee and Soulcalibur II as a kid, but I’ve otherwise only played series like Street Fighter casually. That means that I’ve missed decades worth of storytelling from a genre that regularly cooks up the wildest soap opera dramas available in gaming.

Nintendo has launched a new store sale, with that rare can’t miss prospect of discounted Nintendo games.

Epic Games has promised the return of Fortnite this year on iOS, over three years since it was pulled from the Apple App Store, but only in select regions.

Almost four years after being removed from the App Store, Epic Games has announced it is bringing back the iOS version of Fortnite, but this will only be available for countries in the European Union (EU).

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

Global electricity demand from data centers, cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence could more than double over the next three years, adding the equivalent of Germany's entire power needs, the International Energy Agency forecasts in its latest report.

Lawmakers in Costa Rica writing a bill with ChatGPT. A judge in Colombia using the same tool to ask for advice in a case before him. A news anchor developed by artificial intelligence giving live reports in Mexico.

Twitch is expanding its Partner Plus programme to allow more streamers to benefit from its higher revenue share.

The world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 might seem strangely familiar, even if you never played the original. A lush, forested terrain speckled with hidden caves and cobblestone ruins; inhabited by beasts and creatures you could probably name on sight. That’s because director Hideaki Isuno intended to create a high-fantasy world that looks and feels like one that everyone would imagine a real-life fantasy world to look like.

The Oscar nominations are in, and there’s something missing from the Best Director and Best Picture nominees — or is there? None of us at Polygon quite expected Barbie to make it, nor Greta Gerwig to snag a Best Director nom, but… should she have? And why not?

Consulting firm Nordicity is well-versed on the subject of tax credits for the games industry.

We’ve almost done it, everyone. January — the hardest month — is almost done. But before it is, we’ve got a lot of TV to watch.

Motorola was acquired by Lenovo back in 2014 from Google, and since then, it has carved somewhat of a market for itself in this cutthroat space, but nothing too drastic. However, the company intends to change that and is betting on the future, believing that its smartphone brand can become the world’s third-biggest. In fact, one Lenovo executive is putting his paycheck on the line while boasting such claims.

The central mystery in True Detective: Night Country seems easy when the credits roll on episode 1. It’s not that viewers already have the answer, but it at least feels like we can see all the puzzle pieces in front of us. That is, until episode 2. The second, even better episode of Night Country deepens the season’s central mystery with clever world-building and the most disgusting and disturbing ice sculpture on television.

The King of France has been captured by those dastardly English types, sending the country into disarray as various houses and families vie for power in the vacuum, but is there something darker lying behind the tumult? It’s up to you to fight off the forces of evil in Crown Wars: The Black Prince.

DC: Dark Legion, the highly anticipated strategy game set in the DC universe, has kicked off its beta testing phase. Right now, the beta is exclusive to Android only, and there’s no word yet on whether progress will carry over to the official launch. Keep reading to know If your region qualifies for the beta test!

True Detective: Night Country’s premiere last week signaled a return to form for the series, introducing a chilling (pun intended) mystery in form of the disappearance of a group of arctic researchers and a compelling pair of protagonists in the form of Chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis). Their case is miles away — both linearly and literally — from the one True Detective dealt with in season 1. And yet, the show keeps echoing key details of that season, complete with all those supernatural elements, and of course, that goddamned creepy-looking spiral. What does it all mean? Follow me into my Rust Cohle-shaped hole as I obsessively connect the dots.

It starts as a flash — the briefest glimpse of something horrific, something freezing to the point of black. We get more: a head, a limb, a grimace. It starts to come into focus, around the scene, through bits of dialogue: These men froze to death in clearly agonizing terror, their bodies suspended mid-writhing as well as in the ground. Frostbite abounds; some even clawed their eyes out. Once they finally excavate the bodies, it will be as a singular, frozen mass, transported on a tongue of ice to the local rink so they can slowly defrost. It is Lovecraftian and spectacular. It is exactly what True Detective: Night Country production designer Daniel Taylor hoped it would be like.

January 1st, 2024 saw one of the most devastating earthquakes in recent Japanese history — the most damaging and powerful one since the famous Tohoku Earthquake in 2011. At 7.6 in magnitude, the earthquake caused a lot of structural damage, along with loss of life and injury. While it is easy to get depressed just thinking about the situation, one mangaka is using his voice to encourage and comfort.

2024 looks fairly similar to last year for shooter games fans in that there are very few big names on the list. We still don't know exactly what id Software and The Coalition are doing, while DICE's next Battlefield isn't launching any time soon. There will be a new Call of Duty game, of course, but it's hard to get too excited about it after Modern Warfare III.

Garena Free Fire Redeem Codes for January 19: If you've been playing Garena Free Fire for some time, then must know about the various events that are introduced in the game from time to time. Despite the game still not being available in India, it enjoys a massive player base in other countries. However, it also faces stiff competition from other games such as Call of Duty, BGMI, and Apex Legends. Thus, offering various rewards and rolling out campaigns becomes crucial to keep players hooked. Continuing these efforts, the developers of Garena Free Fire have introduced the Free Fire MP40 Ring event that offers amazing gun skins as rewards. So, if you wish to obtain amazing weapon skins in the game, then check out the details of the Free Fire MP40 Ring event in Garena Free Fire below.

Great news for fans of The Elder Scrolls and mobile gaming. Bethesda Games Studios has revealed a brand new fantasy sim from the team behind Fallout Shelter. 

Three months after a playable build randomly appeared on mobile platforms with zero fanfare, Bethesda has officially announced The Elder Scrolls: Castles, the next game from the team behind the similarly styled management sim Fallout Shelter. 

Staff at services outfit PTW (Pole to Win) are the latest to be impacted by layoffs in the games industry.

When Apple launched the iPhone 14, it came with an exciting new Emergency SOS via Satellite feature that would be free for two years for those who signed up. Today, in a surprise move, Apple announced it's giving all users an additional year for free.

Halo season 2 is fast approaching. To mark the road to the Fall of Reach, GamesRadar+ has the exclusive first look at the new poster from the Paramount series – and things are looking dire for Master Chief and his Spartan allies.

PTW, a support studio that's worked with some of the industry's biggest companies like Blizzard, Capcom, and Sega, has laid off about 45 people, as first reported by Kotaku. PTW was previously called Pole To Win and its services include quality assurance, studio support, and localization. Last week, on January 11, someone with knowledge of the studio told Kotaku about the layoffs, noting that roughly 45 people lost their jobs. 

STALKER 2 has a new confirmed release date of September 5th 2024, pushing it out of the Q1 2024 window that was announced in December. The reason given for the delay is that much more time is needed to polish the game so it is in a fact state to release, and meet expectations of those who have been waiting for it.

Staff at services outfit Pole to Win (PTW) are the latest to be impacted by layoffs in the games industry.

STALKER 2 has a new confirmed release date of September 5th 2024, pushing it out of the Q1 2024 window that was announced in December. The reason given for the delay is that much more time is needed to polish the game so it is in a fact state to release, and meet expectations of those who have been waiting for it.

*Warning! This article contains spoilers for True Detective: Night Country episode 1*

Amazon-owned Twitch is preparing to lay off 35 percent of its employees or a little over 500 people. The news was first reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday and confirmed a day later by Twitchin a blog post signed by CEO Dan Clancy. Employees will learn today via email whether they are or aren't losing their jobs.

Mojang Studios has partnered with BBC for a brand-new Minecraft Education world inspired by Planet Earth 3.

Mini golf is the superior form of golf, let’s be honest. You won’t see the likes of Rory McIlroy or Scottie Scheffler trying to get a ball past a blowing windmill or through fire during the US Open, but they might if they have nGolf on Switch. nGolf is a mini golf game where you will take on putting challenges across eight worlds themed on a mix of real countries and other locales such as the beach.

 The Earth is heating up, as is conflict in the Middle East. The world economy and Ukraine's defense against Russia are sputtering along. Artificial intelligence (AI) could upend all our lives. The to-do list of global priorities has grown for this year's edition of the World Economic Forum gabfest of business, political and other elites in the Alpine snows of Davos, Switzerland. It gets going in earnest Tuesday and runs through Friday.

Global executives are increasingly worried about the long term viability of their businesses, a PricewaterhouseCoopers pre-Davos survey showed, with pressures mounting from generative artificial intelligence (AI) and climate disruption.

The White Lotus star Theo James unexpectedly inherits his wealthy father's country estate, only to get more than he bargained for, in the bloody first trailer for Guy Ritchie's new Netflix series The Gentlemen. While the show is set in the same world as the director's 2019 movie of the same name, it features all new characters, with James playing Eddie, the Duke of Halstead.

Apple iPhone 15 Price Cut: Apple Inc. is offering discounts of as much as 500 yuan ($70) on its latest iPhones in China for the first time in years, a rare cut that may deepen fears about dwindling demand for its marquee device.

The best Nintendo Wii games of all time will have you waving the Wiimote and Nunchuck around with a massive stupid grin plastered over your face.

NVIDIA has secured a huge AI order from the Indian data center operator Yotta, as total order valuation is expected to exceed the $ billion mark.