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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
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