Diversity News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

French publishing giant Ubisoft has promoted Cécile Russeil to the position of EVP of communications, corporate affairs, diversity, inclusion and accessibility, human resources and legal.

Earlier this month, the International Game Developers Association published a call to action urging leaders across the games industry to consider the consequences of layoffs, and prompting them to embrace sustainability.

Devsisters is back with yet another Cookie game. This time, it’s CookieRun: Tower of Adventures. The game is now up for pre-registration on Android and iOS. Previously called ‘Project B,’ it’s expected to drop on June 6th, 2024.

MSI seems to be focusing more on NVIDIA's RTX GPUs than AMD's Radeon GPUs as the company focuses on products with higher user interest.

Honkai Impact 3rd v7.4, Invitation to the Mad Banquet, serves a banquet of exciting content, new battlesuits, and story revelations.

Today, NVIDIA announced that the upcoming tactical first-person shooter game Gray Zone Warfare will support DLSS 3 (Frame Generation) from day one, accelerating performance on GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics cards. As with any game with built-in DLSS 3 support, Gray Zone Warfare will also feature Reflex, which any owner of GeForce GTX 900 Series GPUs and newer will be able to activate for up to 50% reduction in system latency. Last but not least, the Unreal Engine 5 powered game will support the hardware accelerated ray-traced version of Lumen lighting to deliver cutting-edge visuals.

The Vision Pro saw daylight last year at the WWDC event, but it took its sweet time to hit the shelves as the company was creating the necessary hype and preparing developers to create proper use cases for the headset. While the reviews shared positive feedback, the possibilities for the device are endless as developers work to expand the Vision Pro's applications in the real world. We are now hearing that an orthopedic surgeon in Brazil used the Apple Vision Pro to successfully perform surgery on a patient's shoulder.

Helldivers 2 troops are currently hammering away at the latest Major Order to successfully defend at least ten planets from both bugs and bots, but all those last-minute, oil-drenched extractions might not contribute to the liberation effort as the game's systems are now "suffering a minor outage."

Team Liquid and Raider.IO have joined forces to sponsor the Mythic+ Charity Pro-Am charity event to raise awareness and funds in support of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in gaming. This event will pit 6 Mythic+ Dungeon teams against each other in a race to see who can complete the highest key in 5 hours. This year, Wowhead is proud to sponsor the Charity Pro-Am competition, lending our support to Raider.IO, Team Liquid, and all of the charities involved in this annual event! The event takes place on May 25th, 2024 at 9am PDT/6pm CEST on the Team Liquid Twitch Channel.

Liberating planets on Helldivers 2's galactic war table should affect other territories linked by invisible supply lines, a system that one dev admits can be "inconsistent," but that's not the game's most pressing issue right now as a lack of in-game communication tools means more casual divers are left out of the loop.

Rockstar Games' highly anticipated title, GTA 6, might still be a distant prospect, but with the recent release of its trailer, excitement has soared. Though the trailer offers only a glimpse into the game's world, it introduces us to at least two key characters, stirring speculation among fans.

It seems Toys for Bob's warmly received Crash Bandicoot sequel has been a huge success. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, the first numbered sequel in the series since 1998's Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, has sold over five million copies, according to the studio's design director, Toby Schadt.

Blizzard has released development notes for The War Within Alpha, which include a large list of class changes! Among them are specific Warrior class changes, alongside developer comments for those changes in the class feedback thread. Note that there are no Protection Warrior specific changes this build, though some of the class changes do impact them. Arms Talent CalculatorFury Talent CalculatorProtection Talent Calculator Experiment with these changes for yourself using our updated talent calculators!

With the Hades 2 technical test underway, we’re asking this question: How are the Greek gods of the game even hotter than in the original, Hades? Regardless of the answer, there are lots of new characters being added to the franchise’s lore, like Hephaestus, the god of the forge. Hephaestus is special because he plays a role in most other gods’ stories — he’s the one who crafted their powerful weapons, like Athena’s spear or Zeus’ lightning bolt. He’s also one of the few Greek gods who isn’t “perfect;” it’s said he was thrown from Mt. Olympus because of his appearance, and he was injured on the fall. He’s often depicted with a disability impacting his legs.

Games platform Roblox has tweaked how the application process works for its Marketplace.

AI roundup:  London-based model Alexsandrah has a virtual twin which was created with the help of AI. This real-life virtual model is another big example of how AI transforms creative industries. In other news, new research on how AI will impact immersive media on 5G Networks will take place, addressing media packaging, ingesting, media delivery, and other concerns. 

A brand new and incredibly expensive Helldivers 2 Ship Module upgrade is currently bugged, while one developer recommends simply restarting the game. 

The International Game Developers Association today released a "call to action" for studio leaders to avoid unneeded layoffs.

Each year, the organisers of London Games Festival showcase the work of Black, Asian, and underrepresented games professionals working in the UK through the Ensemble initiative.

Stellar Blade's director says the games industry needs more diversity in its releases, including console titles and single-player games with endings that don't go on forever.

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

Helldivers 2's ongoing Major Order has commanded soldiers to finally squash the mechanized Automatons on the western front, but unfortunately, frequent crashes threaten to jeopardize the weekend's operation, and one developer recommends letting the game "rest." 

 In a recent address at the 2024 Business, Government & Society Forum, Google CEO Sundar Pichai delved into the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the tech giant's products. Specifically, he addressed the critique Google faced regarding the responses of its Gemini AI chatbot. Pichai emphasised that the high expectations set by users act as a catalyst for Google's continuous efforts to enhance its products.

In the realm of smartphones, this week witnessed an exciting lineup of launches catering to diverse consumer preferences and needs. From flagship devices to budget-friendly options, here's a roundup of the latest releases:

Helldivers 2's friendly fire "will never change," meaning that blasts from fellow grunts and enemy bots will kill you just the same for as long as the galaxy is undemocratized, but an upcoming armor set should make accidental deaths much less common with a whopping 90% explosive damage resistance perk.

Early last year, while working on the next entry in the Life Is Strange franchise, a few developers at Deck Nine stumbled upon something that didn’t belong in their game: Nazi symbols.

X-Silicon, a firm known for silicon IP solutions, has unveiled a new "C-GPU architecture," which combined with a RISC-V CPU focuses on low-power & efficient performance solutions.

In a move aimed at combatting misinformation, Elon Musk-owned micro-blogging platform X has rolled out its Community Notes program in India. This new initiative empowers users to contribute to the fact-checking process of tweets circulated on the platform.

The skies of Helldivers 2 are getting increasingly clouded by swarms of Automaton Gunships, and the factories that keep spitting them out are proving a particular nuisance to democracy enthusiasts as they've begun to confirm that there's really only one good way to destroy these things: the Hellbomb.

A new update coming to adds important customization features with new hairstyles and colors for the Sims. With the help of the modding community, players on PC have been able to achieve pretty realistic game play, but players on consoles have not been able to experience this for themselves, which is why base game updates like these are important.

Episode 2 release date and time have been revealed. The episode will air on Crunchyroll. In the series, 37-year-old corporate worker Mikami Satoru is fatally stabbed and reborn in another world as a slime named Rimuru Tempest. He embarks on a journey to establish a diverse and inclusive world, embracing his newfound abilities and encountering various challenges along the way.

BioWare might have more than Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and the next Mass Effect game in the works, as a job listing refers to "2-3 project teams". Right now, the studio only has two ongoing projects that we know about, with the third perhaps being another unannounced game.

Helldivers 2's ongoing Major Order has tasked the community with liberating Tibit before the weekend is done, but the war effort on the Galactic West just suffered a fatal setback and High Command is blaming distracted divers for the loss.

The world of competitive Pokémon gets all the more exciting when you know which of these creatures together make the best teams. Have you mastered the skill of forming a squad that strikes fear into the hearts of opponents yet?

Baldur's Gate 3 featured a lot of absolutely epic moments throughout the course of its long and satisfying storyline, but as with any game, some great ideas were unfortunately cut in in the final version.

A new No Man's Sky update is launching today, introducing a much-requested feature alongside a complete overhaul of Space Stations and more.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a big game with a whole host of iconic areas from the Underdark to Moonrise Towers to the city itself, but it nearly had a few more. Larian Studios head Swen Vincke revealed in an interview that the team had to kill several "darlings" during development, such as githyanki queen Vlaakith's palace, the Gith Astral Plane, Candlekeep (where we start our adventure in the first Baldur's Gate), and Avernus.

Recently Pocket Gamer Connects celebrated its tenth anniversary as part of the annual flagship event Pocket Gamer Connects London. However, we're not stopping there, as next up is The Very Big Indie Pitch at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2024.

For a certain subset of angry gamers planted behind their keyboards, March 18 was just another day in the digital outrage mines.

The recent Developer Campfire Chat has announced some of the upcoming changes to Diablo 4, which are simply massive in scope. There are barely any systems that are left untouched — and one of these sweeping reworks targets the Helltide event, which is getting considerable quality of life and mechanical changes! Itemization Update Summary — Diablo 4 Season 4 Legendary and Unique Drops Tradeable in Season 4 A number of these much-needed changes are brand new, but some bear direct inspiration from the popular Blood Harvest event from Season 2 — read on to find out more.

In the realm of 3D printing, affordability and quality often walk hand in hand. Whether you're a hobbyist exploring the wonders of additive manufacturing or a professional seeking precision and reliability, choosing the right 3D printer can significantly impact your experience. Here, we present a curated list of the best 3D printers on Amazon, ranging from budget-friendly options to the more premium models, each offering unique features and capabilities to cater to diverse needs.

This GDC marks the comeback of an iconic panel, with 1ReasonToBe returning in person for the first time since 2019.

“Driving into the Void,” a new contender in the TPS (third-person shooter) arena, is prepping for its beta test, and you’re invited to be among the first to navigate its strange new world.

Last year’s controversy surrounding the Dungeons & Dragons Open Gaming License not only damaged Wizards of the Coast’s relationship with its biggest fans, but also helped to turbocharge the sales of competing game systems. Chief among them was Paizo’s Pathfinder, which sold through nearly a years’ worth of stock in just a matter of weeks. Now the Washington state-based publisher is throwing some serious funding behind its marquee fantasy role-playing franchise. It’s next effort, Pathfinder Lost Omens: Tian Xia World Guide, boasts a team of more than 40 authors. Polygon sat down with senior designer James Case to learn more.

Break out your hot pink Joy-Con because Princess Peach Showtime! is almost here. If you’re as excited as we are to play as the royal lady of House Toadstool in her very own platformer, you can currently save $20 on Princess Peach Showtime!.. First-time QVC customers can use the code WELCOME20 at checkout, discounting the price to just $39.99 before tax and shipping.

For people at the trend-setting tech festival here, the scandal that erupted after Google Gemini chatbot cranked out images of Black and Asian Nazi soldiers was seen as a warning about the power artificial intelligence can give tech titans. Google CEO Sundar Pichai last month slammed as "completely unacceptable" errors by his company's Gemini AI app, after gaffes such as the images of ethnically diverse Nazi troops forced it to temporarily stop users from creating pictures of people.

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.

Man, y'all really like mechs. The long-awaited Helldivers 2 mechs hit the game earlier today following the liberation of planet Tien Kwan, and it seems the community's enthusiasm has outpaced developer expectations and server limitations once again. 

Helldivers 2's ongoing co-op campaign of galactic conquest has been garnering a lot of attention lately.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is not only a fascinating retelling of one of gaming’s most beloved titles — it’s also among the most feature-rich games of this generation. From vast open areas to explore that teem with activities to densely populated cities and tense dungeons, there’s at least 100 hours worth of content to uncover here if you’ve got the time and energy to complete it all.

In an age where more and more people are picking up gaming as a hobby, inclusivity is more important than ever; diversity can attract new gamers, and can open up a story to go somewhere completely new — and that is what Sweet Baby Inc stands for.

In the real world, there are tons of sub-variants of wolves roaming the planet.

It’s no secret that game development has seen a massive expansion in scope in recent years.

Following NVIDIA's Chat with RTX launch, AMD is now offering users their very own localized & GPT-based LLM-powered AI chatbot which can run on Ryzen AI CPUs & Radeon 7000 GPUs.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth wouldn't have been the game it is if it wasn't a PlayStation 5 console exclusive, according to Yoshinori Kitase.

Puget Systems has released its CPU market trend report for 2023 showing Intel leading the desktop mainstream space while AMD remains the workstation king.

Helldivers 2 doesn't have any melee weapons, even though there's a stat for getting melee kills. The only way to increase it right now is to bash enemies with a gun butt, which is what one player is doing to try and convince developer Arrowhead to finally add some more variety.

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

Mphasis launches DeepInsights Doc AI for advanced document processing;  OpenAI partners with Figure AI to elevate humanoid robots with advanced AI models; Author Calum Chace optimistic about AI's impact on jobs; Meta CEO Zuckerberg explores AI chip collaboration with Samsung in Asia tour- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

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

The Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association has released the outline for Tokyo Game Show 2024, which will run from September 26 to 29 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. This year’s theme is “Trailblaze the World with Gaming.”

Did you hear? Google has been accused of having a secret vendetta against White people. Elon Musk exchanged tweets about the conspiracy on X more than 150 times over the past week, all regarding portraits generated with Google's new AI chatbot Gemini. Ben Shapiro, The New York Post and Musk were driven apoplectic over how diverse the images were: Female popes! Black Nazis! Indigenous founding fathers! Google apologized and has paused the feature.

The return of Eddy Gordo, the capoeira specialist who’s been a fan-favorite in the long-running Tekken series since his franchise debut 25 years ago, should have been a slam dunk for Bandai Namco. His absence from the critically-acclaimed Tekken 8 was a serious point of contention between series director Katsuhiro Harada and overzealous fans as early as last summer, and his inclusion via DLC was a step towards correcting the unpopular omission.

After more than two weeks of hammered servers and lengthy queues, Helldivers 2 players and developer Arrowhead have a reason to collectively sigh in relief. Helldivers 2 server issues seem to have finally let up during the weekend, and now the studio is ready to go back to the “original plan” and prep new content.

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

FromSoftware is changing its approach to level design with Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

At last, the sturdy boot of Managed Democracy will be delivered to those who deserve it nearly as much as bugs and bots. The latest patch for Helldivers 2 adds an AFK kick timer to remove AWOL players so that active divers can be allowed to unleash justice.

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

Ah, it’s a new day, full of Nintendo news. We got our first Nintendo Direct of the year today with a Partner Showcase, spotlighting games arriving in the first half of 2024 for the Switch.

Nintendo chose the end of its Feb. 21 Partner Showcase to reveal an unexpected sequel to a half-forgotten series of Wii scuba-diving games. It might have seemed an odd choice, but Endless Ocean Luminous brings back a gameplay style — and, more importantly, a pure vibe — that we haven’t seen in nearly 15 years.

Xbox has been a powerhouse in the gaming world, captivating the hearts of millions with its best in class technology and immersive gaming experiences. The platform has consistently delivered top-notch games that redefine the boundaries of entertainment. In this compilation, we dive into the best Xbox games, curating a list of the 10 ultimate gaming gems that promise to elevate your gaming adventures.

More than 500 games on Steam made over $3 million in gross revenue in 2023.

It's been a perfect storm.

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

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios has temporarily capped concurrent players to 450,000 to help with server stability as it works to "get the ceiling raised" and fix other issues related to its immensely successful launch.

The weekend begins with a brand new puzzle to solve and the groupings in today's categories might just cause a few players to lose their long-standing win streaks. Some days just seem harder than others with this type of game as you never know what someone's knowledge base may be.

How does some bonus XP sound, divers? Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios announced via Twitter that a bonus XP weekend will be in effect for the frantic third-person shooter effective immediately. The bonus XP will last through the end of February 18 and will grant all players XP and Requisition at a 50% multiplier on top of your base mission score.

The Nintendo Switchis one of the best-selling gaming consoles of all time, with a diverse line-up of games attracting every kind of gamer to the console.

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