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Ars Technica

Former Ubisoft executives reportedly arrested over sexual harassment allegations

Five former Ubisoft executives have been detained for questioning by French authorities.

The arrests are related to allegations of sexual assault and toxic workplace behavior at Ubisoft. [ more ]

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'Wait Wait' for September 30, 2023: Live in LA with Bob and Erin Odenkirk!

The show was recorded at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles

Bob Odenkirk and his daughter Erin Odenkirk joined as guests [ more ]

Ars Technica

Is the Meta Quest a Wii U-sized flop? Software numbers suggest it might be

Meta announced $2 billion in lifetime revenue from Quest apps and software.

Quest software market is roughly the same size as that for the Wii U at a similar point in its life cycle. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Meta's Quest 3 headset launches Oct. 10, starts at $499

Meta announces release date for Quest 3 headset.

Quest 3 promises double the processing power and improved display compared to Quest 2. [ more ]

Ars Technica

FIFA 23 delisted from digital stores as EA Sports FC 24 launches

EA has removed downloadable versions of FIFA 23 from digital storefronts earlier than expected.

There has been a regular cadence of delisting older sports titles by EA.

FIFA 23's delisting may be related to the dissolution of EA's licensing relationship with FIFA. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Kerbal Space Program 2 has a big pre-launch issue: Windows registry stuffing

Setting expectations for early access games can be difficult.

Kerbal Space Program 2 dropped excessive Windows registry entries, causing game loading issues. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Donna Noble is back and ready for a fight in trailer for Doctor Who specials

Doctor Who's 60th anniversary will feature three specials with David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor.

The specials will include the return of Catherine Tate as Donna Noble and feature classic adversaries from the show's archives. [ more ]

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Sunday Puzzle: Back to Class!

In this on-air challenge, players must name something in a category starting with each letter of the word 'TEACH.'

Last week's challenge was to name a U.S. city and rearrange its letters to name the residents of the city. [ more ]

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'Wait Wait' for September 23, 2023: With Not My Job guest John Wilson

The show was recorded in Chicago with Peter Sagal as the host and Bill Kurtis as the judge.

John Wilson, creator of HBO's How To with John Wilson, participated in the 'Not My Job' segment. [ more ]

Ars Technica

EU game devs ask regulators to look at Unity's "anti-competitive" bundling

European game developer trade group calls on governments to update regulations to address Unity's fee structure change.

The group argues that Unity's new fee structure will make it harder for small and midsize developers to build reliable business plans. [ more ]

Ars Technica

FTC v. Microsoft document leak outs detailed plans for mid-gen Xbox refresh

Leaked documents reveal Microsoft's mid-generation refresh plans for the Xbox Series consoles.

The Xbox Series X refresh, codenamed 'Brooklin,' will have an all-digital design, increased internal storage, and updated ports.

The Xbox Series S refresh, codenamed 'Ellewood,' will have improved wireless connectivity and power consumption. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Report: Unity considering revenue-based fee caps, self-reported install numbers

Unity is considering implementing hard limits on its per-install fee plan based on total revenue.

The proposed limit is 4% of a game's revenue for customers making over $1 million.

Unity may allow developers to self-report their installation numbers for fee-collection purposes. [ more ]

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Sunday Puzzle: Home Run!

Baseball terms can be found by unscrambling anagrams.

An example of a baseball term found by unscrambling anagrams is 'SLIDER'. [ more ]

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Wouldn't it be great if pets could talk? This might be the next best thing

Bobby Johnson, also known as The RxCK STxR, is a popular voiceover artist on social media, giving animals a voice in viral videos.

Johnson's channel began during the pandemic when he noticed a video of a puppy bouncing on beat and made a song out of it.

Johnson watches about 200 animal videos a day, looking for expressive moments where the animals seem to be saying something with their bodies. [ more ]

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Wouldn't it be great if pets could talk? This might be the next best thing

Bobby Johnson, known as The RxCK STxR, gives voice to animals in popular social media videos.

Johnson's channel started during the pandemic and gained popularity after a video of a puppy dog bouncing on beat went viral. [ more ]

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Sunday Puzzle: Switch It Out!

Change one consonant in each 7-letter word to a vowel to form a new word.

Last week's challenge involved musical instruments that spelled something that holds the instruments. [ more ]

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'Wait Wait' for September 9, 2023: With Not My Job guest Martinus Evans

The show was recorded at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago.

Martinus Evans, the founder of Slow AF Run Club, was the Not My Job guest.

The panelists predict what will be discovered at Burning Man after the cleanup. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Record-breaking Super Mario Bros. speedrun approaches robotic perfection

Niftski sets a new world record for a live, human-controlled full game run of Super Mario Bros. with a time of 4:54.631.

Niftski's time is now ahead of the previous 'theory limit' set by runner Bismuth.

Niftski's major breakthrough in this record run is the inclusion of a previously thought-to-be-impossible 'Lightning 4-2' performance. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Yes, you can play Starfield on Steam Deck, but really, you shouldn't

Starfield can now be played on handheld gaming PCs like Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally without crashes.

Streaming the game remotely or using Xbox Remote Play is a better option due to graphics and frame rate limitations on handheld devices. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Starfield's missing Nvidia DLSS support has been added by a free mod

Starfield mods now support Nvidia's DLSS technology alongside AMD's FSR2 upscaling.

Full access to DLSS mod requires Patreon subscription or using cracks to bypass DRM.

The DLSS mod on NexusMods only supports DLSS2, while a Patreon version supports DLSS3 on compatible Nvidia cards. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Seeing this Pong chip has me finding excuses to visit Rochester's Strong Museum

The Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY has a collection of video game artifacts, including a prototype chip for the home version of Pong.

The museum also has exhibits on the history of the video game industry, the World Video Game Hall of Fame, and a Women in Games exhibit. [ more ]

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Sunday Puzzle: H.R. You Ready to Play the Puzzle?

The theme of today's on-air challenge is "H.R."

Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase with the initials H.R. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Chess.com, Hans Niemann have made their peace over 2022 cheating scandal

Magnus Carlsen lost to Hans Niemann in a chess game, sparking a cheating controversy.

The lawsuit filed by Hans Niemann against Chess.com has been dismissed and the parties have settled their differences. [ more ]

Ars Technica

AI-powered hate speech detection will moderate voice chat in Call of Duty

Activision is partnering with Modulate to implement real-time AI-powered voice chat moderation in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.

ToxMod, the AI-powered voice moderation system, aims to identify and take action against harmful language that violates the game's code of conduct. [ more ]

Ars Technica

30 years after Descent, developer Volition is suddenly no more

Volition, the game development studio behind popular franchises like Red Faction and Saints Row, has been abruptly shut down after 30 years.

The closure is part of a larger restructuring program by parent company Embracer Group.

The fate of Volition's more than 200 employees is uncertain, with some being laid off and others potentially transitioned to other parts of Embracer's gaming empire. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Starfield leaker arrested for felony theft after attempting to sell early copies

A Tennessee man has been arrested for leaking early footage of Bethesda's upcoming game, Starfield.

The leaked footage spread quickly across the internet, garnering over 1 million views on Imgur alone.

The man attempted to sell shrinkwrapped copies of Starfield on a Mercari page. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Luffy's boundless optimism lights up One Piece final trailer

Netflix's live-action adaptation of One Piece is generating positive early reactions.

The trailer showcases impressive camerawork, VFX, and loyalty to the source material.

The series follows Monkey D. Luffy and his crew's pursuit of the One Piece treasure. [ more ]

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Sunday Puzzle: From City to City

The on-air challenge consists of finding U.S. cities that consist of one word inside another.

There are five word puzzles to solve in this challenge. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Leaked Wipeout source code leads to near-total rewrite and remaster

The source code for the original Wipeout game has been leaked and recreated by Dominic Szablewski.

Szablewski rewrote the game's rendering, physics, and sound from scratch.

The original source code was messy and had issues with geometry, performance, and text rendering.

Szablewski's version of the game is much cleaner and runs better.

He provides detailed documentation on his work and takes readers on a tour of PSX dev kits and game development. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Sony's $200 handheld "Portal" can stream games from your PS5 and, uh, that's it

Sony has announced the PlayStation Portal, a handheld gaming device.

The Portal can only run games streamed from a PlayStation 5 via Remote Play.

The device is viewed as redundant since Remote Play already works on smartphones.

Other streaming-ready Android-based gaming portables offer more features and functionality.

The PlayStation Portal does not support games streamed through PlayStation Plus Premium. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Zack Snyder unveils extended teaser for his Netflix sci-fi saga Rebel Moon

Director Zack Snyder pitched an epic Star Wars movie idea to Lucasfilm which never panned out.

Snyder's new project for Netflix, 'Rebel Moon', hopes to launch a new franchise.

The film is set in a universe controlled by a ruthless government and follows a group of warriors seeking redemption and revenge.

The main character, Kora, used to be an Imperium leader and assembles a band of allies to fight against the oppressive regime.

Snyder draws influences from Akira Kurosawa and plans to create a new army of heroes in this epic saga. [ more ]

Ars Technica

It's-a-no-longer me: Charles Martinet steps down as Mario's voice [Updated]

Nintendo announced that Charles Martinet will no longer voice Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi.
Martinet will take on a new role as Mario Ambassador.
He has been voicing Mario for over three decades and holds the Guinness World Record for most performances as a single video game character.
Nintendo did not provide a reason for the transition.
Chris Pratt's portrayal of Mario in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie has drawn confusion and criticism due to Martinet's iconic voice.

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Sunday Puzzle: You Better Make It LAST!

The challenge is to name the item that is last alphabetically in a given category.

Examples include Wisconsin in U.S. states and October in months.

The challenge from last week involved rearranging the letters of a famous singer's name to spell a repeated part of a song.

This week's challenge involves rearranging the letters of a body part to spell another body part. [ more ]

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Sunday Puzzle: Fill in the Blank

Changing the first letter of a word to "QU-" can create a related, rhyming word.

Paying attention to details and accuracy can prevent mistakes.

It's important to communicate and follow up with others in a timely manner. [ more ]

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Sunday Puzzle: Batter Up!

Anagramming words can be a fun way to create new words or phrases related to a specific theme, such as baseball.

The challenge encourages listeners to think creatively and apply their knowledge of baseball terms to solve the anagrams.

The game demonstrates the intersection of language and sports, showing how words can be rearranged to form new meanings within a specific context. [ more ]

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'Wait Wait' for August 5th, 2023: With Not My Job guest Maggie Smith

The show will include a series of quirky questions about current events and pop culture to test Smith's knowledge.

This is the first time an actor of Smith's fame will be appearing on the show, and it is sure to be an entertaining and informative episode. [ more ]

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Post Malone bought Magic: The Gathering's 'One Ring' card valued as high as $2 million

Post Malone recently purchased a rare Magic: The Gathering card for $50,000.

The card, One Ring, is part of the MTG's "Stronghold" set and is considered one of the rarest cards among the game's vast library.

The purchase of the card highlights the increasing popularity of MTG as not only a game, but as a form of collecting and investing. [ more ]

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Sunday Puzzle: Can You Guess these Popular TV Shows?

Popular television shows can be identified by their iconic catchphrases and clever wordplay.

TV shows often use symbolism or allusions to other media to convey deeper meaning.

It's important to pay attention to the context of a show's dialogue as it may provide clues to the meaning of the show. [ more ]

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This alarm clock will wake you up with your worst fears

Alarm clocks have been upgraded to a new level of sophistication with the introduction of the "Fear Clock", which can wake you up in a unique and personalized way by playing audio recordings of your worst fears.

The Fear Clock was developed by a team of psychologists, engineers, and designers in order to provide users with an innovative way to face and face their fears on a daily basis. [ more ]

Ars Technica

69% of Russian gamers are pirating after Ukraine invasion pushback

69% of Russian gamers are engaging in piracy, likely due to increasing discontent with the country's economic and political policies.

The game industry in Russia is suffering due to the high rate of piracy, leading to a decrease in profits and potentially a decrease in game development.

The game industry in Russia may be able to benefit from increased public support and better economic and political policies to decrease the rate of piracy and ensure a more profitable industry. [ more ]

Ars Technica

Dolphin emulator abandons Steam release plans after Nintendo legal threat

Dolphin Emulator, an open-source project that enabled PC gamers to play Nintendo GameCube and Wii games, has abandoned its plans to release on Steam after receiving a legal threat from Nintendo. [ more ]

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Sunday Puzzle: Two Words, Scrambled Please

Anagrams can be a fun and challenging way to increase your vocabulary and problem-solving skills.

When creating anagrams, it is important to consider the context of the words and their meaning.

A good strategy for solving anagrams is to break down the words into smaller parts and look for patterns. [ more ]

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Sunday Puzzle: Fill in the Blank

On-air challenge: Every answer today is a familiar phrase in the form "___ & ___," in which I've changed one letter in each of the words. You tell me the phrases. Ex. SHOT & WELL --> SHOW & TELL 1. LOFT & SOUND 2. CRUSH & BARN 3. NICKED & LIME 4. COLLARS & DENTS 5. KITS & SELL 6. NOON & CRANKY 7. SURE & DIMPLE 8. PUNT & HECK 9. HIKE & SEED Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge comes from listener Darwin Lange, of Mandan, N.D. Name a sports facility in two words.

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Sunday Puzzle: Time To Flip-Flop!

On-air challenge: I'm going to give you some clues.For each one, take the last two letters, reverse them, and use those to start the answer to the clue.Ex.Name for a cat --> TABBY 1. Part of the foot 2. Scrabble unit 3. Greek hero 4. Jesuit school 5. Thesaurus author 6. Prophet in the Bible 7. Gun part 8. Chocolaty dessert 9. Italian restaurant offering 10.

Ars Technica

GeForce RTX 4060 review: Not thrilling, but a super-efficient $299 workhorse

Nvidia's GeForce 1060, 2060, and 3060 graphics cards are some of the most widely used GPUs in all of PC gaming.Four of Steam's top five GPUs are 60-series cards, and the only one that isn't is an even lower-end GTX 1650.All of this is to say that, despite all the fanfare for high-end products like the RTX 4090, the new GeForce RTX 4060 is Nvidia's most important Ada Lovelace-based GPU.

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Sunday Puzzle: Opposites Attract

On-air challenge: I'm going to give you two five-letter words.Change one letter in each word to get two new words that are opposites.Note: The position of the letter you change in one word will be the same position you change in the other.Ex.FLESH SCALE --> FRESH, STALE 1. BLANK WHILE 2. ANGER DEMOS 3. INTER HEAVE 4. SHARK HOARY 5. APPLE SLANT 6. FLOWN STILE Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge came from listener Joe Becker, of Palo Alto, Calif.

Ars Technica

Private email shows PlayStation chief unworried about Xbox-exclusive Call of Duty

Publicly, Sony has been adamant that Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision would give Microsoft too much power over PlayStation's access to key multi-console franchises like Call of Duty.Privately, though, Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan seemed less concerned, according to a blockbuster email Microsoft presented Thursday during opening statements in a court hearing on the FTC's attempts to block the Activision purchase.

Ars Technica

Beyond missing Titanic sub, handheld gamepads are a common military interface

This weekend's tragic disappearance of an OceanGate Expeditions tourist submersible has led to a fair share of bemused coverage focused on the company's apparent use of a $30 Logitech F710 wireless PC game controller for its interface.But OceanGate is far from the first outfit to use off-the-shelf or slightly modified gaming control hardware to power expensive heavy machinery well outside of the gaming realm.

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Ars Technica

Amazon originals no longer have to be Amazon exclusives

Following its acquisition of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM) film studio, Amazon is launching the Amazon MGM Studios Distribution unit, which will be responsible for distributing Amazon original movies and TV shows, including the massive library it got through MGM.In March 2022, Amazon closed its $8.5 billion purchase of MGM, giving it power over 4,000 movies, including 12 Angry Men, Creed, Robocop, Rocky, and Stargate and 17,000 TV shows, including The Handmaid's Tale, which has been a hit for Hulu, and Fargo, which has aired on FX, plus upcoming releases.

Ars Technica

PC gaming market is set to grow again after pandemic and overstock corrections

PC gamers may be concerned about losing their jobs in 2023, but not so much that they can ignore a glut of new GPU and ultra-widescreen monitor options.That's the elevator-pitch version of Jon Peddie Research's report on PC gaming hardware sales and costs.At a high level, it suggests that while mid-range gaming will see only gradual growth from 2023 through 2025, both entry-level and high-end hardware should see notable upticks through 2025.

Ars Technica

How Pink Floyd inspired research into medieval monks and volcanology

Sébastien Guillet, an environmental scientist at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, was rocking out to Pink Floyd's classic Dark Side of the Moon album one day when he made a prescient connection.The darkest lunar eclipses all occurred within a year or so of major volcanic eruptions.And astronomers know the exact days of those eclipses.

moreyears

Ars Technica

Quirky Doom II RPG makes the leap from the iPhone 3GS era to PC

"Mobile games" were something else entirely in 2005, a time in which Windows Mobile was a viable platform, the only Apple phone was a Motorola ROKR, and none of them had a shot at running Doom, let alone its sequel.That's why id Software made Doom RPG, the weirdest official Doom game that is also still a bit fun.

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Ars Technica

Darkest Dungeon 2 is an awkward sequel, but I can't stop playing it

The worst thing you can do when playing Darkest Dungeon 2 is compare it to its beloved 2016 predecessor.Darkest Dungeon was essentially a 2D XCOM, complete with a base that you managed and upgraded over a long campaign.Darkest Dungeon 2 is decidedly not that.Instead, it's a roguelite.Rather than embarking on a long campaign filled with dozens of units to manage and upgrade as you did in the first game, here, you go on one-and-done "runs" with a stable cast of characters.

Ars Technica

Star Wars: Luke's Awakening fan art imagines 2D Zelda in the Star Wars universe

Just in time for Star Wars Day, Irish pixel artist and indie game developer Shoehead debuted nine delightful mock-up images of a non-existent Game Boy Color game called Star Wars: Luke's Awakening.It's a fan tribute that melds the design sensibilities of the 1993 Game Boy classic Zelda: Link's Awakening with the storyline of the original Star Wars trilogy.

Ars Technica

Here's what caused black stains on Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus

Researchers at the Politecnico di Milan in Italy examined mysterious black stains on a folio of Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus and confirmed the presence of starch and vinyl glues in the affected areas.The glues were most likely applied during an earlier restoration effort some 50 years ago, according to a recent paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Ars Technica

Star Trek fans will finally get a Section 31 movie-with an Oscar-winning lead

Paramount+ has announced a new movie called Star Trek: Section 31 that will star Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh, reprising her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou from Star Trek: Discovery.It was announced in 2019 that the streaming network was exploring the idea of a series starring her-in fact, it was one of the first post- Discovery announcements-but it's been radio silence since then, and Yeoh's already illustrious career has reached new heights with the enormous critical and popular success of Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Ars Technica

Proton update gets 18 more Windows games running on Linux, including Chex Quest HD

To play Windows-compatible games in its Linux-based operating system, the Steam Deck relies on a compatibility layer called Proton.It's a collection of different technologies, including the venerable Wine software and software that translates Windows-native Direct3D API calls into Vulkan API calls that Linux can handle.

Ars Technica

Sony worries Microsoft will only give it a "degraded" Call of Duty

Late last month, UK regulators said they no longer believed a proposed Microsoft-owned Activision would bar Call of Duty games from PlayStation platforms, a reversal of earlier preliminary findings.Even if you grant that premise, though, Sony says that it's still worried Microsoft could give PlayStation owners a "degraded" version of new Call of Duty games in an effort to make the Xbox versions look better.

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Sunday Puzzle: Seeing Double

On-air challenge: I'm going to give you some six-letter words.For each one add the same letter of the alphabet twice without rearranging any of the other letters to make a common eight-letter word.Ex.STURDY A --> SATURDAY 1. RESENT C 2. COLLIE D 3. LATISH F 4. SEATED H 5. FESTER I 6.ASSORT P 7. WANGLE R 8. MALLET S 9. HEDGER A 10. REARED P 11.

Ars Technica

Apple Arcade still exists, adds 20 new games-and some of them sound neat

Apple Arcade is still around, and it's still a priority-at least, that's the message we imagine Apple's surprise launch of 20 new games on the same day seeks to send.The new games include (but aren't limited to) a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-branded battler titled TMNT Splintered Fate, a Disney-themed Scrabble-like game called Spellstruck developed in partnership with a Words With Friends co-creator, a city builder called Cityscapes: Sim Builder, and a follow-up to the Arcade smash hit What the Golf?

Ars Technica

Redfall convinced me that always-online for single-player is just stupid

I have played Arkane's new co-op vampire loot-shooter Redfall for about five hours.From what I've seen and experienced, the reviews are right: The set design, art, music, sound, and voice acting are all solid, sometimes splendid.But the actual gameplay is mostly uninspired marker quests, inventory stat comparisons, and brain-dead-enemy shooting with awkward-feeling guns.

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Sunday Puzzle: Palindrome Zone

On-air challenge: Every answer today is a 7-letter palindrome in two words reading backward and forward the same.Get the palindromes from their clues.Ex. #1 position (3,4) --> TOP SPOT 1. Indianapolis 500 vehicle (4,3) 2. Vehicle for taking sailors to Annapolis (4,3) 3. Very, very angry (4,3) 4. Call 911, e.g.

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Roy Wood Jr. wants laughs from White House Correspondents' speech and reparations

Comedian Roy Wood Jr. is the latest Daily Show correspondent to host the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C. Aude Guerrucci /AFP via Getty Images Some of the biggest names in politics and media will gather in Washington, D.C., Saturday night for the White House Correspondents' Dinner, where they will rub elbows, trade notes and crack up.

arstechnica.com

Four PC builds for spring 2023

It's a weird time to build a PC.That's partly because fewer people are doing itsales for parts and prebuilt PCs are down across the industry, as people continue to make do with the stuff they bought early in the pandemic.And GPU prices, while closer to "normal" than they have been over the last two years, are still historically high.

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What this year's 4 inductees did to get into the Video Game Hall of Fame

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Jon-Paul Dyson with The Strong National Museum of Play about the Video Game Hall of Fame inductees for 2023.

Ars Technica

AMD is ready to launch its twice-delayed Ryzen 7000 chips for lightweight laptops

Today AMD announced additional details about its new Ryzen 7040U series of laptop chips, which bring the company's newest Zen 4 CPU architecture and RDNA 3 integrated graphics into thin-and-light laptops.Though just part of AMD's ( often-confusing) Ryzen 7000 laptop lineup, the 7040U processors will be the ones to hold out for if you want to maximize performance without stepping up to a larger laptop with a dedicated GPU.

Ars Technica

Grimes says anyone can AI-generate her voice "without penalty"

On Sunday night, Canadian musician Grimes tweeted that she would split 50 percent royalties on "any successful AI generated song" that uses her voice, reports The Verge.As an independent artist, Grimes says anyone can use her voice without penalty."I have no label and no legal bindings," she says.

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Sunday Puzzle: A City Scramble

On-air challenge: Very simple idea.I'm going to give you some words and some familiar phrases.Rearrange the letters of each one to name a state capital.Ex.MEALS --> SALEM (Oregon) 1. ROVED 2. POKE AT 3. ANTI-U.S. 4. UP LAST 5. LEG HAIR 6. IN SLANG 7. IPHONE X 8. MISSED ONE 9. TICKET ROLL 10.ACTOR'S NAME Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge came from Joseph Young, of St. Cloud, Minn., who conducts the blog "Puzzleria."

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A new mode in MLB video game celebrates historical Black all-stars

Long-running baseball video game MLB The Show features a new mode that celebrates historical Black all-stars.

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Klaus Teuber, Catan board game creator, dies at 70

German board game designer Klaus Teuber <> recently died at the age of 70.His masterpiece was The Settlers of Catan <>.

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Sunday Puzzle: Category is...

On-air challenge: It's spring, and today I've brought a game of Categories based on the word BIRDS.For each category I give, name something in it starting with each of the letters B-I-R-D-S.For example, if the category were "Flowers," you might say Buttercup, Iris, Rose, Daisy, and Snapdragon.

Ars Technica

Chrome will support the WebGPU API by default-here's why that's important

Google announced today that it would enable WebGPU support in its Chrome browser by default starting in version 113, currently in beta.In development since 2017, WebGPU is a next-generation graphics API that aims to bring the benefits of low-overhead APIs like Microsoft's Direct3D 12, Apple's Metal, and Vulkan to web browsers and other apps.

Ars Technica

Canadian statistics professor games Tim Hortons contest for 80-98% win rates

All you had to do, if you really wanted some free coffee and doughnuts, was wake up around 3 am each day and click on some virtual Tim Hortons coffee cups.It was 3:16 am, actually, that gave a University of Waterloo professor a roughly 80 percent win rate on Tim Hortons' Roll Up To Win game.That wasn't as good as the 98 percent Michael Wallace clocked in early 2020, when he discovered a quirk in the coffee chain's prize distribution scheme, but it still made for great lessons for his students.

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Sunday Puzzle: It's the R and the T for me!

On-air challenge: Every answer today is a word in which the only consonants are R and T, repeated as often as necessary.All the other letters are vowels.The letter Y isn't used.Ex.Characteristic --> TRAIT 1. Common fish in streams 2. Participant in a civil disturbance 3. Extreme fright 4. Kind of sauce for seafood 5. Turn, as wheels 6. Means for connecting to the internet 7. Grand speaker 8. Tenacious dog 9. Turncoat 10.

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Archaeology students found dad jokes from Ancient Rome

Games & Humor Dad jokes aren't just a thing of the present: NPR's Scott Simon has the details on the "Liber Patavinus" - a book of humor for Ancient Rome.Copyright 2023 NPR.All rights reserved.Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

Ars Technica

E3, now dead, was a show for a bygone game industry

This year's edition of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has been canceled.The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and show promoter ReedPop announced late Thursday that the planned June event-which was set to be the first in-person E3 since 2019-"did not garner the sustained interest necessary" from major publishers and potential attendees to justify a massive convention.

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Rollicking 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' scores a critical hit

L to R: Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), Simon (Justice Smith) and Edgin (Chris Pine) are hot to trot.Paramount Pictures and eOne Even if you don't know a halberd from a hezrou, you'll probably go into Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves thinking you know what to expect.Because even if you've never experienced the beloved tabletop role-playing game on which the film is based yourself, you do know what a putative blockbuster franchise film looks and feels like in 2023.

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