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Blizzard pulled off a rare surprise today by shadow launching remasters of the original Warcraft and its sequel to commemorate the franchises 30th anniversary. These updates of the hit RTS games are available right now and look to merge retro goodness with some modern sensibilities. The remasters feature brand new, hand-drawn visuals that capture the original art style from each game. Players will be able to swap between the original graphics and the remastered versions in real time. If the trailer is anything to go by, the games look purdy. The simple animations match the vibe of the two games nicely. The original Warcraft is getting some serious quality-of-life changes to make the game more appealing to modern audiences. The update includes 16:9 resolution support and modern control options. For instance, players can now right-click to move units instead of having to rely on hotkeys. Both remasters have also received "various UI and UX improvements such as tooltips and health bars, mission select screens, and increased unit selection." The original games placed strict limitations on how many units could be selected at once, so that last one is a nice improvement. Warcraft 2 will even be available for multiplayer sessions. Franchise manager Brad Chan said during todays 30th anniversary livestream that all legacy custom maps will still be fully compatible and playable. These remasters are available right now. Warcraft 1 is $10 and Warcraft 2 is $15. Todays 30th anniversary stream also dropped all kinds of other nuggets beyond the remasters. Warcraft 3: Reforged got a major update today that fixes many long-standing issues. Blizzard also announced that the affiliated mobile title Warcraft Arclight Rumble will be playable on PC starting on December 10, albeit as a beta. The developer is relaunching WoW: Classic, complete with all-new, fresh realms. WoW: Classic 20th Anniversary Edition will be available on November 21 and will include PvE and PvP servers, in addition to Hardcore realms. WoW Classic is even getting a new (old) expansion. Mists of Pandora Classic will be available next year. Check the trailer above for proof.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/warcraft-1-and-2-remastered-are-available-right-now-for-some-retro-rts-goodness-194335478.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Google is conducting a test that will omit results from EU-based news publishers. The company says the time-limited trial will only affect a small portion of users in nine EU countries and will help assess how results from EU news publishers impact the search experience for our users and traffic to publishers. But given the fragile state of the news media and the companys history of threatening to pull its services in the face of news-related regulations its tempting to view it as the equivalent of a mob boss conducting a little test to see how the corner laundromat fares without its protection. Google describes the experiment (via The Verge) as a small, time-limited test to omit EU results from search, Google News and the personalized Discover feed. It will only affect one percent of users in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. Those users will still see results from other websites, including non-EU news publications. The company says news results will reappear as usual once the test concludes. (It didnt list a specific timeframe.) Google stresses that the experiment wont impact the publisher payments it makes under the European Copyright Directive (EUCD), under which the company has inked deals with over 4,000 EU publishers. Google does have a history of using the potential withdrawal of its visibility as a negotiating stick in similar situations. In some cases, the tactic has helped it draw concessions. Last year, Google pulled its news links from Canada in response to Bill C-18 (the Online News Act), which required tech companies to negotiate compensation with online publishers for linked content. After months of negotiations, Google said Canada had addressed its concerns and given it a path to an exemption. Canada said it granted one to Google last month, with the company agreeing to pay $100 million annually to news organizations. In April of this year, Google briefly removed links to California news outlets in response to the proposed California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), which would require Google to pay news publishers in exchange for continuing to link to their websites. Although the bills fate is still up in the air, Google struck a deal with state lawmakers this summer, committing tens of millions of dollars to a fund supporting local news. In 2021, the company threatened to remove its entire search engine from Australia in response to a then-proposed law requiring tech companies to share royalties with news publishers. The nations then-Prime Minister stood firm. Let me be clear. Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia, Scott Morrison said. After the bill was passed and enacted, Google struck deals with Australian media companies to license content. Google says it hopes the data analysis tools it provides publishers will help them use the EU test to understand traffic patterns.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/a-google-test-will-omit-eu-publishers-from-news-links-184536615.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Threads could start getting ads much sooner than Meta has let on. The company is now planning to bring ads to its newest app early next year with the first ads arriving in January of 2025, according to a new report in The Information. That suggests Meta is looking to start making money on the rapidly growing service far sooner than Meta executives have previously suggested. In August, when the app reached 200 million users, Mark Zuckerberg said Threads could become the companys next billion-user service. He said making money off the app would be a "multi-year" effort. All these new products, we ship them, and then there's a multi-year time horizon between scaling them and then scaling them into not just consumer experiences but very large businesses, Zuckerberg said. In the companys most recent earnings call, Meta CFO Susan Li said the company doesnt expect Threads to be a meaningful driver of 2025 revenue at this time. According to The Information, Meta is planning a slow rollout for ads on Threads. The company will start with a small number of advertisers in January. Its unclear how quickly the effort may expand. "Since our priority is to build consumer value first and foremost, there are no ads or monetization features currently on Threads," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. Metas reported plans highlight just how quickly the service has grown in recent months. Threads has 275 million monthly users and is seeing more than 1 million new sign-ups a day, according to Zuckerberg. That makes it by far the largest of the X alternatives that have sprung up over the last couple years. Bluesky, another popular Twitter-like service, has also seen significant growth recently, adding a million new users in the last week, the company said Tuesday. It is still much smaller than Threads with 15 million users. Like Threads, it also currently has no advertising and the company has said it plans to experiment with subscription-based features. Update November 13, 2024, 2 PM ET: Added a statement from a Meta spokesperson. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-will-reportedly-bring-ads-to-threads-as-soon-as-january-183044211.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
AMD has confirmed its laying off roughly four percent of its global workforce, according to reports by TechCrunch and others. Its not entirely clear how many people will be impacted by this move, or which divisions the laid off employees will be pulled from. We can, however, do some math. The company had around 26,000 employees last year, according to an annual filing by AMD. Four percent of 26,000 comes out to just over 1,000 people. Thats a lot. So that leads us to why. You already know the answer. Its a bunch of corporate gobbledygook. As a part of aligning our resources with our largest growth opportunities, we are taking a number of targeted steps, an AMD spokesperson told CRN. Dont worry. The company also said its committed to treating impacted employees with respect and helping them through this transition. Engadget reached out to AMD for more information as to what that respect and help will look like. Well update this story if we find out anything. This news comes after a fairly mixed Q3 earnings report. The company grew revenue and profit, but the gaming division saw a massive year-over-year decline of 69 percent, according to Wccftech. The company has also struggled to compete with NVIDIA in the world of AI chips. Experts still predict that AMD will make nearly $33 billion in 2025, thanks to forthcoming next-gen GPUs. This isnt enough for investors, however, as its just an increase of around $7 billion when compared to 2024. The companys stock is down around four percent this year, and dropped further today. Capitalism demands massive and endless growth. Rival (and occasional bestie) Intel has faced similar headwinds. The company announced over 15,000 layoffs earlier this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amd-lays-off-4-percent-of-its-global-workforce-182534044.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Sony has revealed the latest slate of PlayStation Plus Game Catalog additions for Extra and Premium members, and it's a dang solid lineup this month. The biggest name, of course, is Grand Theft Auto V. That's returning to the Game Catalog after Sony removed it in June. GTA V has now sold more than 205 million copies (not a typo), but if you've yet to dive into the game or its perennially popular online mode, here's your chance. GTA VI, meanwhile, is set to arrive next fall. In case you're all GTA'd out for the time being, there are lots of other PS Plus additions to explore. One of those is the open-world zombie survival action RPG Dying Light 2: Stay Human, which I've been meaning to check out for a long time. Like A Dragon: Ishin (which, coincidentally, is leaving Game Pass this month) and Chivalry 2 are among the other big names on the list, but I'm especially happy to see Overcooked! All You Can Eat make the cut. That's a terrific bundle of both Overcooked games and all of the expansions. For years, I've been calling these games the perfect relationship test. Just, uh, maybe don't play with your partner if you're going through a rough patch. Elsewhere, The Sims 4 expansion pack Island Living is included. Naturally, you'll need the free-to-play base game to access that. Moto GP 24, Digimon Survive, Stick Fight: The Game, Clash: Artifacts of Chaos, the intriguing Killer Frequency and Hungry Shark World round out the newcomers to the PS Plus Game Catalog's Extra tier. The Premium lineup is pretty exciting this month as well. I spent many hours playing the multiplayer modes of Resistance: Fall of Man in the PS3 era. Insomniac Games has been on an incredible run for the last six years, so it should be fun to hop back into that game and its sequel, Resistance 2, for a hit of nostalgia and to see how far the studio has come. Note, however, that these two games are streaming-only. Ahead of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1-2 Remastered arriving next month, you can warm up by playing Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Blood Omen 2. Last but not least, there's one PS VR2 addition to the lineup in the form of action shooter Synapse. PS Plus Premium and Extra subscribers can play these games at no extra cost starting on November 19.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/playstation-plus-game-catalog-additions-for-november-include-gta-v-again-and-dying-light-2-174646227.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
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