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Ex-employees of Annapurna Interactive who quit en masse last year have reportedly found their next project. According to Bloomberg, the team is taking over the games and franchises of Private Division, a former Take-Two label that published indie games. A new enterprise that doesn't have a name as yet is said to have been formed and it appears that some of the remaining 20 or so employees of Private Division will be laid off as part of the transition. Take-Two said in November that it had sold Private Division (which published The Outer Worlds and physical copies of Hades) to an unnamed buyer, reportedly a private equity firm called Haveli Investments. Haveli is said to have brought in the former Annapurna employees in recent weeks and handed them the keys to Private Division's portfolio. That includes an upcoming cozy life sim based on The Lord of the Rings called Tales of the Shire, the Kerbal Space Program series and a new project from Game Freak, which is best known for making Pokémon games. The entire Annapurna Interactive staff quit last summer after discussions to spin out the publisher from parent company Annapurna Pictures fell apart. The company then set out to replace the team. Annapurna has a stellar track record in the indie realm, having published a string of highly regarded games such as Stray, Sayonara Wild Hearts, What Remains of Edith Finch, Cocoon and (slightly confusingly) Outer Wilds. So theres reason for optimism that its former staffers can do great things with the Private Division portfolio. Fingers crossed that this also somehow portends a future for OlliOlli and the brilliant Rollerdrome. Both were developed by Roll7, a now-shuttered studio that was under Private Divisions umbrella.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/former-annapurna-interactive-staff-are-reportedly-taking-over-publisher-private-divisions-game-portfolio-133033714.html?src=rss
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AI companions are taking a dramatic leap forward in gaming, with NVIDIA and Krafton introducing the first "co-playable character" (CPC) for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. This AI teammate, announced at CES 2025 and dubbed PUBG Ally, goes beyond traditional scripted behaviors to communicate naturally with players, share strategic advice and adapt to dynamic battlefield conditions. Unlike conventional AI co-players that follow rigid programming, these companions can independently gather resources, operate vehicles and engage in combat while using game-specific terminology that makes interactions feel authentic.The technology powering the co-playable characters is NVIDIA ACE. It uses small language models optimized for quick decision-making so AI co-players can process their environment, plan actions and respond to changing situations much like human players would. The innovation stems from a strategic collaboration between Krafton's Deep Learning Division, established in 2022, and NVIDIA's expertise in AI technology. The way PUBG Ally balances autonomy with collaboration acting independently but remaining responsive to player input and team needs reflects a shift in human-AI interaction in other fields. AI systems aren't simply replacing human tasks but rather augmenting human capabilities, whether assisting physicians in diagnosis while adapting to unique patient cases or, in software development, understanding project context and suggesting coding solutions while still working within a developer's overall vision and strategy.
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In summer 2023, the Biden administration announced its plan to certify devices with a logo indicating powerful cybersecurity. Now, as Biden navigates his last couple weeks in office, the White House has launched the US Cyber Trust Mark. The green shield logo will adorn any product which passes accreditation tests established by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The program will open to companies "soon," allowing them to submit products to an accredited lab for compliance testing. "The US Cyber Trust Mark embodies public-private collaboration," the White House stated in a release. "It connects companies, consumers, and the US government by incentivizing companies to build products securely against established security standards and gives consumers an added measure of assurance through the label that their smart device is cybersafe." Some companies, like Best Buy and Amazon, plan to showcase labeled products for consumer's easy discovery. Steps to get the program up and running have continued over the last year and a half. In March, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the program in a bipartisan, unanimous vote. Last month, the Commission issued 11 companies with conditional approval to act as Cybersecurity Label Administrators. The White House's original announcement included plans to also create a QR code linking to a database of the products its unclear if this aspect will move forward. The QR code would allow customers to check if the product was up-to-date with its cybersecurity checks. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/devices-with-strong-cybersecurity-can-now-apply-for-a-government-seal-of-approval-131553198.html?src=rss
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