When Noah saw the email, a wave of anxiety hit. It was spring 2023, and the Activision artist was reading a message from the company's then chief technology officer, Michael Vance, about how artificial intelligence was “top of mind” at the video game publisher. Systems were still being tested, Vance …
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When Jon M. Chu enters the restaurant, I barely notice him. He looks like a regular customer here for an early lunch. He doesn’t project the air of a Hollywood big shot, though by any measure he is one. Chu directed the 2018 hit Crazy Rich Asians, and he’s currently …
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It’s not hyperbole to say that a significant number of meteorologists working today never would’ve thought to enter the field if it weren’t for the 1996 blockbuster Twister. Meteorology programs around the United States saw a surge in admissions in the years after the movie came out. Following the success …
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The man in the mask wants you to click the tally counter. So begins Strange Scaffold’s short, yet highly distressing new game, Clickolding—a very literal take on clicker games—released on Steam this week. The lore of how video games pitches are conceived is not always exciting. It’s often an obfuscated …
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It is true just about everywhere, but especially in America: Real power is having control over the flow of resources. Property. Money. Information. If you command the levers of production—who gets what, when, and how—you dictate what the future holds and who gets a say in it. Or in this …
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Ever since the assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump last Saturday, the tenor online has been understandably tense. Far-right extremists are sending out calls for violence, militias are recruiting, and everyone, it seems, has a conspiracy theory about what led to the shooting. But in the corners of …
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In the hours after former US president Donald Trump was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania, a new Fortnite game appeared: Donald Trump vs Assassin. The game was quickly removed, but several other games that include antisemitism and political violence remained on the gaming platform, according to a new report from the …
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Cruise around TikTok these days and you're bound to stumble on one: A young woman, standing next to a presumed beau, pointing out their “feminine, vintage-Levi’s-wearing, tote-bag-carrying, mustached little boyfriend.” If you haven't seen one of those, maybe it's the person saying “if my friends think you're a little bit …
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Every summer, the Spanish Twitch streamer Ibai Llanos hosts a livestreamed boxing tournament called La Velada del Año (The Evening of the Year). In just four years, it has gone from a relatively small event featuring matches between a few influencers from Spain to an enormous global phenomenon featuring over …
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The crimson kiosks read “the smarter way to watch and play.” The accuracy of that statement largely depended on how one defined “smart.” Launched in the early 2000s, Redbox offered something of a hybrid: Blockbuster-style DVD and game rentals in a small stall that could sit in the corner of …
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