Month: December 2024

Over the past few months, a global semiconductor shortage has constrained the supply of countless different products–from F-150s and Ford Broncos to Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X consoles. With few signs that the shortage will ease on its own, the U.S. government is now one step closer to implementing legislation aimed at alleviating the constraints and improving the availability of the chips.

Called the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, the bill passed the Senate this week with unusual bipartisan support. 68 Senators voted for the bill compared to 32 against, easily clearing the 60-vote threshold necessary to avoid a filibuster. The bill allocates $52 billion for the semiconductor industry alone, in addition to an array of other investments in the technology industry. Over $200 billion is directed at technological initiatives in total.

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Recent reports suggested that Hasbro was potentially looking to sell its Dungeons & Dragons IP, but this is not the case. A spokesperson for D&D operator Wizards of the Coast told VGC that rumors of Tencent buying the D&D IP are unfounded.

Wizards of the Coast and Tencent talk regularly and are partners across multiple products, but Wizards of the Coast made it very clear: “We are not looking to sell our D&D IP.”

The statement continued: “We will keep talking to partners about how we bring the best digital experiences to our fans. We won’t comment any further on speculation or rumors about potential M&A or licensing deals.”

Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate III, which enjoyed great success in 2023, is based on the D&D universe and Tencent owns 30% of the Belgian developer. A report said Larian was considering buying the D&D franchise but didn’t have enough funds. Larian boss Swen Vincke responded on social media that D&D is not for sale, so these rumors are not correct.

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Following the announcement of Call of Duty: Vanguard, Activision has announced when we can expect to learn more, and it won’t be long. More footage of the World War II shooter’s campaign will be revealed at some point next week, Activision said.

“More campaign footage coming VERY soon. Like maybe next week. But what do we know,” Activision said on Twitter, basically confirming the reveal for next week.

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A new clip released for the upcoming movie Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City puts the spotlight on Jill Valentine, and it includes a very funny reference to an infamously bad line of dialogue from the original Resident Evil game.

In a character featurette focused on Jill Valentine, who is played by Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp) in the film, she steals a sandwich while sitting in a restaurant booth and proclaims that it’s “Jill’s Sandwich” in third-person. This would be a weird thing to say if not for the famous line from the original Resident Evil game in which Barry Burton proclaims that Jill almost became a “Jill Sandwich” after narrowly avoiding danger.

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Earlier this year, Michelle Yeoh landed a leading role on Blade Runner 2099, Amazon Prime Video’s sequel series to the two Blade Runner feature films that came before it. Now, cameras are rolling in Prague as Blade Runner 2099 has officially begun production.

Via The Prague Reporter, Blade Runner 2099 started filming on June 30, and it will be booked in Barrandov Studio for the next six months. Yeoh is playing a replicant named Olwen who is nearing the end of her artificial life. Hunter Schafer also has a leading role on the series as Cora, a woman who finds herself engulfed in a conspiracy alongside Olwen.

Additionally, Deadline is reporting that several other performers have been added to the cast. Katelyn Rose Downey, Lewis Gribben, Dimitri Abold, and Daniel Rigby have landed roles as series regulars on the show. Amy Lennox, Matthew Needham, Sheila Atim, and Johnny Harris will also have recurring guest roles in the series. Specific details about their characters were not released.

Silka Luisa created Blade Runner 2099, which will be executive produced by Ridley Scott, the director of the original film that was released in 1982. Prime Video hasn’t set a rele…

In Bethesda’s Game Studios’ Starfield, players can do various things, such as travel planets, role-play, and so much more. But one thing that has gotten the community’s attention is how good its potato physics is.

The news comes from Reddit user Moozipan, who posted a video on the official Starfield subreddit with a video caption, “Time To Let Something Go.” The video starts off with them picking up a potato on their ship and immediately becoming encumbered. Shortly after, Sarah suggests that they should drop a few things. Following that, they open a hatch and are greeted by a bunch of potatoes falling into the hallway. Once they close the hatch, the potatoes can be seen being pushed out of the way to ensure it shuts.

Over the weekend, the much anticipated Spider-Man No Way Home trailer leaked online and all traces of the trailer were swiftly taken down by Sony. The news was reported by The Hollywood Reporter who says the trailer seems legitimate.

Tom Holland, famously known for leaking Marvel movie news on social media in the past, seemingly reacted to the trailer leaking on his Instastory saying, “You aint ready!”

In reaction to the trailer leaking and traces of it being removed online, people took to Twitter creating Feige memes of what his reaction would be if he were to find the person who leaked the trailer to the third Spider-Man Marvel movie.

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The workers’ quarters portion of Signalis is a long and harrowing one. But once you’ve collected all the keys, taped someone’s favorite cassette back together, and gone through somebody’s mail, you’re left with an astrolabe and a spot to put it. Rest assured, this is the final puzzle of the workers’ quarters, but it is also, fittingly, the most obtuse.

To solve it, you’re going to need to look to the stars, or rather, the planets. Locking your belongings away is neither the typical form nor function of an astrolabe, but the box it holds shut is also mentioned as being mysterious, so just go with it.

Finding the astrolabe

The astrolabe is found in the library, which you can enter once you find the library key in post office box 512. Once you enter, there’s a Kolibri Replika in a bad way, but more importantly, there’s a vending machine. Unfortunately, it isn’t full of snacks. Instead, there’s only an astrolabe, which seems like an odd thing to put in a vending machine.

Actually getting to the astrolabe isn’t as straightforward as punching in a grid position. The aut…

Sony has confirmed that an apparent change to the PS5 dashboard–which resulted in unwanted ads and outdated information replacing games’ artwork when selected–was a bug, and is not going to be included going forward.

As confirmed by The Verge, the change has already been reverted, and a PlayStation employee said it was related to an “existing feature” rather than anything Sony intentionally added in an update.

The bug appeared to be linked to the official news feed for the games in question. For example, when the latest Spider-Man game was pulled up at the GameSpot office, the ad that came up was for a roundtable video featuring the creative team of Spider-Man 2 and and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. There are other examples included in the gallery below, as well as social-media reactions. Let’s be thankful this won’t be the norm going forward.

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Looking for a Metroidvania to sink your teeth into? Then head over to GOG and check out Alwa’s Awakening. Not only does it offer 400 unique rooms to overcome, but right now GOG is giving the game away for free. However, you’ll have to move quickly–the free giveaway ends tomorrow, March 29, at 6 AM PT / 9AM ET.

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