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Top executives from Wargaming and Lesta Games, the joint developers of World of Tanks, could have their stakes in their respective companies seized by the Russian government, according to reports from Russian news organizations RIA and RBC. Malik Khatazhaev, the head of Lesta Games, and Viktor Kisly, the head of Wargaming, are reportedly being accused of extremist activities by Russia's Prosecutor General (the country's equivalent of the US Attorney General) because of Wargaming's support of Ukraine, RIA reports. The Prosecutor General is looking to seize all of the executives' shares in their respective companies. Development of World of Tanks was split in 2022 when Wargaming left its offices in Russia and Belarus, and transferred development of the Russian version of the game to Lesta Games. Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine that same year. In response, Wargaming ran a campaign in World of Tanks raising money for medical aid in Ukraine in 2023. The Russian government has decided to interpret that pro-Ukrainian fundraising as anti-Russian extremist activity. Why Lesta Games is being accused of the same thing isn't entirely clear, but it is the company that's technically still under the Prosecutor General's jurisdiction. Neither Lesta Games nor Wargaming have released an official statement, but Lesta Games did comment in a company Telegram channel, RBC reports. "The company works in full compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, so we have no grounds for any concerns or concealment of information," Lesta Games writes. "We have not violated anything and we have nothing to fear."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/russian-regulators-are-trying-to-seize-assets-from-the-developers-of-world-of-tanks-202157310.html?src=rss
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A group of researchers covertly ran a months-long "unauthorized" experiment in one of Reddits most popular communities using AI-generated comments to test the persuasiveness of large language models. The experiment, which was revealed over the weekend by moderators of r/changemyview, is described by Reddit mods as psychological manipulation of unsuspecting users. The CMV Mod Team needs to inform the CMV community about an unauthorized experiment conducted by researchers from the University of Zurich on CMV users, the subreddits moderators wrote in a lengthy post notifying Redditors about the research. This experiment deployed AI-generated comments to study how AI could be used to change views. The researchers used LLMs to create comments in response to posts on r/changemyview, a subreddit where Reddit users post (often controversial or provocative) opinions and request debate from other users. The community has 3.8 million members and often ends up on the front page of Reddit. According to the subreddits moderators, the AI took on numerous different identities in comments during the course of the experiment, including a sexual assault survivor, a trauma counselor specializing in abuse, and a Black man opposed to Black Lives Matter. Many of the original comments have since been deleted, but some can still be viewed in an archive created by 404 Media. In a draft of their paper, the unnamed researchers describe how they not only used AI to generate responses, but attempted to personalize its replies based on information gleaned from the original posters prior Reddit history. In addition to the posts content, LLMs were provided with personal attributes of the OP (gender, age, ethnicity, location, and political orientation), as inferred from their posting history using another LLM, they write. The r/chnagemyview moderators note that the researchers violated multiple subreddit rules, including a policy requiring the disclosure when AI is used to generate comment and a rule prohibiting bots. They say they filed an official complaint with the University of Zurich and have requested the researchers withhold publication of their paper. The researchers didnt respond to an email from Engadget. In posts on Reddit and in a draft of their paper, though, they say their research was approved by a university ethics committee and that their work could help online communities like Reddit protect users from more malicious uses of AI. We acknowledge the moderators position that this study was an unwelcome intrusion in your community, and we understand that some of you may feel uncomfortable that this experiment was conducted without prior consent, the researchers wrote in a comment responding to the r/changemyview mods. We believe the potential benefits of this research substantially outweigh its risks. Our controlled, low-risk study provided valuable insight into the real-world persuasive capabilities of LLMscapabilities that are already easily accessible to anyone and that malicious actors could already exploit at scale for far more dangerous reasons (e.g., manipulating elections or inciting hateful speech). The mods for r/changemyview dispute that the research was necessary or novel, noting that OpenAI researchers have conducted experiments using data from r/changemyview without experimenting on non-consenting human subjects. Reddit didnt respond to a request for comment, though the accounts that posted the AI-generated comments have been suspended. People do not come here to discuss their views with AI or to be experimented upon, the moderators wrote. People who visit our sub deserve a space free from this type of intrusion.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/researchers-secretly-experimented-on-reddit-users-with-ai-generated-comments-194328026.html?src=rss
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The extraction-shooter genre is getting a little more crowded and a lot more stylish with the announcement of Mycopunk, a four-player, first-person romp from indie studio Pigeons at Play and publisher Devolver Digital. Mycopunk is coming to Steam in early access this year. Mycopunk stars four eccentric robots whove been hired by an intergalactic megacorporation to exterminate an invasive, violent fungus thats taken root on a valuable planet. Each robot has a specific class and moveset, but players can use any weapon or loadout with any character and thats a huge benefit, because there are a ton of wacky guns, upgrades and ammo options in this game. For example, there are bouncing shotgun pellets, bullets that hover in place and then dive down when you press the trigger again, and a rocket launcher move that also makes you fly. Customization is a big part of the Mycopunk experience, and there are about 40 upgrades for every weapon, plus unique skill enhancements for each robot. A spatial upgrade system lets you activate abilities by placing their molecular strands on a honeycomb grid, combining effects in powerful and silly ways. The main loop in Mycopunk involves gathering your team, setting mission modifiers, and then dropping onto a planet to kill hordes of massive, tentacled fungus monsters. With each run, you have to accomplish your corporate-directed goal, collect resources for future upgrades and generally survive the onslaught. Missions are fast-paced and the action shifts throughout, dropping new enemies, minibosses and environmental dangers until your final escape. The hub world, where you hang out between missions, is surprisingly vast and packed with surreal touches, like a giant TV screen that only shows a sitcom about roaches. All abilities are unlocked in the hub so you can freely test out your character, plus there are vehicles to drive around, a sparring area, a recreation sphere, snack machines, and secret passageways to explore. It also has Roachard, your mission control contact who happens to be a big roach. Devolver Digital Visually, Pigeons at Play took inspiration from your coolest friends favorite comic book artist, Moebius, which lends the game a gritty, hand-drawn vibe. Mycopunk looks like a living graphic novel, blending retrofuturism with slick mechanics to create a rich, tactile experience. It specifically reminds me of Rollerdrome, a gorgeous game that I will never stop talking about. Mycopunk started out as a senior thesis project for the Pigeons at Play crew, but its transformed into something much larger (kind of like a well-fed fungus). Mycopunk is charming and surprisingly deep, with dozens of cute touches that come straight from the developers history of playing co-op shooters together. For instance, to revive a teammate you have to literally find and reconnect two halves of their broken robot body, instead of just pressing X over their corpse in the middle of a hectic battlefield. Each character also has their own dance moves, and one of the available upgrades lets you move a swarm of bullets through the air like a murderous orchestra conductor. A demo for Mycopunk went live on Steam today and the game is set to enter early access later in 2025.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/mycopunk-is-an-upbeat-love-letter-to-extraction-shooters-192337609.html?src=rss
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