Abolished duties on 36 capital goods

(Image Courtesy: Reuters) Microsoft has entered into a 10-year commitment to bring the gaming title "Call of Duty" to Nintendo platforms, the chief executive officer of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, said in a post on Twitter on Wednesday. The agreement will bring the popular first-person shooter series from Activision Blizzard to Nintendo game consoles for the first time. Nintendo said the Microsoft announcement was true but declined to comment further. The announcement comes after Microsoft's planned $69 billion acquisition of the "Call of Duty" maker raised concern among regulators that the deal could stifle competition. Microsoft competes with Sony Group Corp and Nintendo in the global video game industry, which saw strong growth in recent years with people spending more time at home because of the coronavirus pandemic. Read More … [Read more...] about Microsoft in 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo

PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Demand for women-only motorcycle taxis soars in Indonesian capital Phuket Gazette / Reuters Related news US military shoots down Chinese spy balloon 14 hours ago Is Erling Haaland the new Beethoven, Shakespeare, or Rembrandt? 2 days ago Ladyjek and Sister Ojek, the most recent entrants to the female-only taxi services, have seen business take off less than four months after starting operations in the predominately Muslim nation. “In other public transportation such as public minivans, there are too many men in such a tight space, which makes me feel very uncomfortable. However, I feel safe if it’s Ladyjek because the bikers are also women,” Uki Pratiwi told Reuters before hopping on a motorcycle driven by a Ladyjek employee. Since its launch in October, the Ladyjek mobile app has been downloaded about 50,000 times and … [Read more...] about Demand for women-only motorcycle taxis soars in Indonesian capital

People trying out different games at The Arena, Comic-Con, Bengaluru The year 2022 was a weird year for gaming. The industry continued to feel the lingering effects of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic with slower hardware sales and major delays for upcoming AAA games. Here is a look at some of the gaming highlights of 2022. More buggy launches Unfortunately, major AAA releases continued the trend of messy launches with games like Calisto Protocol or Gotham Knights. The year began with the dullest of thuds in Babylon's Fall, a half-baked unfinished co-op experience that showed Square Enix has learned nothing from its previous live service disasters. What hurt even more is that it was developed by industry darlings Platinum Games. Electronic Arts continued to release yearly installments in the FIFA franchise, and like every year, it was mocked but still sold in the millions. Thankfully, EA no longer holds the license to FIFA anymore. Read More Unfortunately, EA … [Read more...] about Gaming in 2022: A year in review

ChatGPT is better used for playacting than playing at finding facts. (Photo: Pixabay/Pexels) By Jonathan May, University of Southern California It doesn’t take much to get ChatGPT to make a factual mistake. My son is doing a report on U.S. Presidents, so I figured I’d help him out by looking up a few biographies. I tried asking for a list of books about Abraham Lincoln and it did a pretty good job: When I asked ChatGPT if it was sure I was not lying, it claimed that it’s just an “AI language model” and doesn’t have the ability to verify accuracy. However it modified that claim by saying, “I can only provide information based on the training data I have been provided, and it appears that the book ‘William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times’ was written by Paul C. Nagel and published in 1977.” Read More This is not true. Words, not facts It may seem from this interaction that ChatGPT was given a library of facts, including incorrect claims about … [Read more...] about ChatGPT is great – you’re just using it wrong

(Image Courtesy: Microsoft) The European Union (EU) has issued a formal antitrust warning to Microsoft over the $69 billion Activision Blizzard deal. The EU sent Microsoft a "statement of objections" on why the deal could threaten competition in the video games market, US-based Politico has reported. In response, Microsoft said that it was "listening carefully to the European Commission's concerns" and were confident that it could "address them". The Redmond-based technology giant said that it was committed to, "finding a path forward" so that it can close the deal. This is just the latest roadblock in what has been a rocky road for Microsoft to push the deal through. Also Read | Maybe Apple’s weakness isn’t just supply chain woes Read More In December 2022, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Microsoft to stop the merger. The FTC brought up many of the same objections that the EU was concerned with. The bone of … [Read more...] about EU issues antitrust warning against Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal

(Image Courtesy: Activision Blizzard) In an interview with Bloomberg, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division, Phil Spencer, has said that Sony is more interested in talking with regulators than Microsoft over the Activision Blizzard deal. Microsoft announced that it would be buying Activision Blizzard in January of this year, for an unprecedented $68.7 billion dollars, making it one of the most expensive deals in gaming history. Since then, the Redmond giant has faced scrutiny from various watchdogs around the globe. The main point of contention seems to stem from the ownership of the Call of Duty franchise, one of the biggest brands in gaming. The latest release in the franchise, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 earned $1 billion in revenue, just 10 days from launch . The series has historically been multi-platform, appearing on both Sony and Microsoft systems. Sony fears that with the franchise in their control, Microsoft might make it exclusive to Xbox. While their … [Read more...] about Microsoft says Sony not open to dialogue on Activision Blizzard deal

Organisational guru and star of Netflix's series 'Tidying Up', Marie Kondo. (Image credit: @MarieKondo/Twitter) The queen of decluttering from Japan, who introduced the world to how items "spark joy" through the Netflix series Tidying Up has revealed that she has given up on being tidy. Marie Kondo also admitted at a recent webinar that her home is messy but she is now focusing on family and not the physical household. The 38-year-old organisational guru gave birth to her third child in 2021. “Up until now, I was a professional tidier, so I did my best to keep my home tidy at all times,” she said in the recent webinar, Washington Post reported Thursday. “I have kind of given up on that in a good way for me... Now I realise what is important to me is enjoying time with my children at home.” Kondo, considered by millions as an authority on neatness while instructing eager cleaners to keep what “sparks joy” and trash the rest, also admitted that now, even she has trouble … [Read more...] about Decluttering queen Marie Kondo has ‘given up’ on being tidy: ‘My home is messy’

Netflix shares fell more than 30 percent early Wednesday after the streaming company reported a drop in subscribers for the first time in a decade. Netflix shares plunged more than 35 percent early Wednesday following disappointing results, while the Dow pushed higher in a mixed open for US stocks. The streaming giant caught Wall Street off guard for the second quarter in a row, reporting a drop in subscribers for the first time in a decade. Also Read: Netflix to bite the advertising bullet, but can it unlock Indian market potential? Also Read: Netflix tumbles as 200,000 users exit for first drop in decade Read More The company blamed the quarter-over-quarter erosion to suspension of its service in Russia due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The drop in shares was reminiscent of the prior quarter, when a weak subscriber outlook sent Netflix shares diving. Netflix' plunge especially weighed on the Nasdaq, which was down 0.7 percent at 13,522.73. … [Read more...] about Netflix shares plunge more than 30% on lost subscribers

(Image Courtesy: Velan Studios) Two more live service games are going to the graveyard, as CrossfireX and Knockout City will be shut down in the coming months. CrossfireX , an Xbox exclusive console version of the popular South Korean free-to-play shooter, will go first, shutting down servers on May 18. It was launched in February 2022 with a single-player campaign developed by Alan Wake and Max Payne studio Remedy Entertainment. It failed to click with critics as well as fans. Smilegate, the owners of the franchise, have announced they will stop selling the game and all purchases made in the last 14 days as of February 3, 2023 will be eligible for refunds. Also Read | Dell Alienware Aurora R15 desktop launched in India: Check specs, pricing Knockout City, a unique party brawler based on dodgeball, debuted in 2021 under the EA Originals label. Developer Velan Studios took over publishing duties from EA in June 2022 and made the game free-to-play to attract … [Read more...] about CrossfireX, Knockout City join live-service graveyard

(Image Courtesy: Square Enix/Crystal Dynamics) Lara Croft's next big adventure will be in collaboration with Amazon Games. Crystal Dynamics will still handle development duties on the title, and the studio has announced that it will use Epic's Unreal Engine 5 to bring the next game to life. The last title in the Tomb Raider franchise was released in 2018. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was published by Square Enix and developed by Crystal Dynamics. It was met with mostly positive reception from critics and fans but the franchise rights were sold to Embracer Group earlier this year. “Tomb Raider is one of the most beloved IPs in entertainment history,” said Christoph Hartmann, VP of Amazon Games, in a press statement . “Amazon Games is committed to bringing players games of the highest quality, from the best developers, across all variety of platforms and genres, and we’re honored by the opportunity to work with this storied developer and franchise," Hatmann added. Read … [Read more...] about The next Tomb Raider game will be published by Amazon