PrizePicks is back in New York following last year’s $15 million settlement for operating without a license. Fantasy sports operator… Continue reading PrizePicks gains fantasy sports operating license in New York The post PrizePicks gains fantasy sports operating license in New York appeared first on ReadWrite .
Upmanyu Trivedi / Bloomberg : Court hearing: UK prosecutors aim to confiscate ~$6.8B in bitcoin tied to a massive 2017 fraud in China and to pay back Chinese investors that were its victims — UK prosecutors are looking to confiscate Bitcoin worth about $6.8 billion tied to a massive fraud in China uncovered at criminal trials …
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Sabrina Carpenter is hosting "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, and shared a promo in which she channels "Sex and the City" character Carrie Bradshaw.
HONOR is bringing something wild to Mobile World Congress 2026. The company’s Robot Phone concept features a fold-out robotic camera arm that moves on its own. This allows it to capture shots with gimbal-like precision and AI being its driving force. The robotic arm unfolds from the back of the device, rotating a full 360 degrees. It can even tilt and flip to frame shots independently. HONOR integrated advanced AI that perceives the environment, assists with content creation, and even responds to user queries with what the company describes as emotional intelligence. The system can stabilize footage, make creative decisions […] The post HONOR Robot Phone Puts AI-Powered Camera on a Moving Robotic Arm appeared first on Phandroid .
Yasutaka Tamura / Bloomberg : Japanese chip material maker Tekscend rose 13% on its Tokyo debut after raising $1B in its IPO; Tekscend makes photomasks to transfer tiny circuits onto wafers — Tekscend Photomask Corp. shares gained 13% in their debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Thursday after the maker …
Tomonobu Itagaki, the mastermind behind Dead or Alive and the modern Ninja Gaiden games, has died. He was 58 years old. According to IGN , Itagaki’s passing was confirmed by his family hours after a close friend published his final words (in Japanese) on his Facebook page at his request, along with a final photo of the creator, posted above. The translated message reads: Last Words The light of my life is finally fading. The fact that this message has been posted means that the time has finally come. I am no longer in this world. (I am entrusting this final post to someone important to me.) My life has been a series of battles. I kept winning. I have caused a lot of trouble, too. I am proud to say that I followed my beliefs and fought to the end. I have no regrets. However, I am filled with regret that I was unable to deliver a new work to all my fans. I am sorry. That's how it is. So it goes. Itagaki Tomonobu Known for his rockstar persona and outspoken, at times brash, personality, Itagaki began his career working at Tecmo in 1992. He would form the fabled Team Ninja in 1995, serving as its head until his departure in 2008. His tenure at Team Ninja is notable for his creation of the critically and commercially successful Dead or Alive fighting franchise; Itagaki directed the first four mainline entries along with its spin-off beach volleyball game. In the lead-up to the launch of Dead or Alive 3, Itagaki spoke to Game Informer in issue 101 (pg. 49) about his vision for the future of fighting games: "Fighting games need to be easier to play in order to reach a broader audience. The system isn’t the major factor, because it exists to support the games being made. Of course, developers can do more with a superior system, but it is the games that must reach out to the players." Itagaki would then lead the creative vision for the revival of the Ninja Gaiden series, which saw the side-scrolling franchise reworked with then-state-of-the-art 3D graphics, fast-paced, violent action, and brutal difficulty. "I want to bring America the true meaning of ninja," Itagaki told us in the September 2001 issue of Game Informer magazine. The new series kicked off with 2004’s Ninja Gaiden, followed by its sequel, 2008’s Ninja Gaiden II, both of which Itagaki directed and produced. Both games were well-received by critics and players. Tomonobu Itagaki being interviewed by Game Informer circa 2001. Following a contentious split from Tecmo, in which he sued the company for unpaid bonuses ( settled in 2010 ), Itagaki formed Valhalla Studios to create the action game Devil’s Third, his final directorial credit. First announced in 2009, it underwent a lengthy development cycle before being released exclusively on the Wii U in 2015. Devil’s Third was critically panned, however, and Itagaki would leave Valhalla Games in 2017. In 2021, Valhalla’s parent company, Wake Up Interactive, was acquired by Tencent, with Wake Up later merging Valhalla’s staff with subsidiary Soleil, effectively shuttering the studio. Itagaki has been largely out of the public eye since departing Valhalla; his final video game credit is serving as “Supreme Advisor” on 2020’s Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time by Soleil. Over the last decade, he shifted his focus towards fostering younger game development talent. In January 2021, Itagaki formed a new studio called Itagaki Games, which remains in operation as of 2024. Itagaki’s death comes days before the launch of Ninja Gaiden 4, the latest installment of the series he created, though he had no involvement with this entry. The game industry is paying tributes to Itagaki on social media, including from Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada , former Halo composer Marty O'Donnell , developer James Montagna , Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon , and his former home, Team Ninja : We are deeply saddened by the passing of Team NINJA's first leader, Tomonobu Itagaki. We will carry on the philosophy and creativity that Itagaki-san began and continue to create games that many gamers will enjoy. Our deepest condolences for his loss. From everyone at Team NINJA
Quantic Dream, known for narrative-first titles like Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human, is the last studio I would expect to be behind Spellcasters Chronicles. It's a mixture of a surprisingly wide range of mechanics, including deckbuilding, real-time strategy, and third-person action, thrown into a free-to-play competitive multiplayer game. After a private demo, including a presentation and hands-off gameplay footage, I'm intrigued, though not entirely sold. Spellcasters Chronicles has you play as one of several magic users, known (unsurprisingly) as spellcasters. Like many hero-based games, including Overwatch or League of Legends, these characters form a diverse cast, pulling inspiration from magic systems and mythology from around the world. It's a great hook for the character designers; The Mystic Scribe uses a giant paintbrush as a weapon, the Swamp Witch has wooden horns growing from her head, and the Astral Monk has spectral arms protruding from her back. During a Q&A portion, I ask why the characters are identified based on their casting style rather than with a name, and the developers hint that there's more than meets the eye here. My guess is that multiple people can assume the mantle of any given role, but I'm just speculating. On that note, while Quantic Dream's presentation is gameplay first (which I prefer), the team emphasizes that the game has a lot of lore to uncover, though it'll have to wait until launch. In a match, two teams of three will battle for dominance and try to destroy the other team's lifestones, giant glowing pillars positioned around the map. To do so, they'll summon minions, construct buildings, and attack enemy spellcasters. Abilities are spellcaster-specific, but even those can vary depending on your deck, which you fill with your preferred spells and summons before joining the game. And while the game is in third person, every character can freely fly around the map, giving them an aerial view of the battlefield. Gameplay footage shows the formula in action. We see a Fire Elementalist use a magic staff to summon minions and ignite their weapons with fire damage. Summons can be a range of sizes. Some are small, roughly the size of a dog, and join the battlefield in groups of about a dozen at a time. Others are probably thirty feet tall, the size of a house. And Titans, which serve as huge, game-changing summons, are the size of skyscrapers, towering over the battlefield. In the gameplay demo, when one appears, the team has to drop everything they're doing and focus all their offense on the Titan. If it gets to their lifestone, it can destroy it extremely quickly, and since each team only has three lifestones, you don't have many to spare. As he and his minions destroy enemy units, The Fire Elementalist levels up and can quickly choose which of his character's abilities he wants to boost, be it damage, health, or something else. It's a way to adjust your build mid-game, the developers mention. Once you see the strategies your opponents are going for, it can help clarify what area you want your hero to excel in. Spellcasters Chronicles looks awesome, but like many multiplayer games, it's more important to know how it feels; it's like the great wizard Alex Russo once said: "Everything is not what it seems." There's certainly potential here, but if the flight controls are clunky or the Titans, as cool as they are, make every match end in the same way, I won't be sticking around for very long. Luckily, I should have a chance to try it soon – at the time of writing, Quantic Dream is hoping to start beta sessions imminently, and I'm hoping to sign up as soon as possible to see if it feels as magical as it looks.
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch : Indian startup Kuku, which offers audio content and vertical dramas, raised an $85M Series C led by Granite at a $500M valuation and has 10M+ paid subscribers — Kuku, an Indian storytelling platform backed by Google, has raised $85 million in fresh funding as it aims to scale its audio …
There's more to a phone than high-end specs.
Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg : Kraken acquires Small Exchange, a US-licensed futures exchange, from the IG Group, for $32.5M in cash and $67.5M in Kraken parent's Payward stock — Kraken has acquired a US-licensed futures exchange from IG Group as the crypto heavyweight seeks to broaden the range of products it can offer directly to US customers.
Deena Mousa / MIT Technology Review : How AI-powered tools like PainChek, an app that scans a person's face for tiny muscle movements, are helping healthcare providers better assess patients' pain — Artificial intelligence is helping health-care providers better assess their patients' discomfort.
Apple and NBCUniversal are teaming up for a $15/month streaming TV bundle that will include access to Apple TV and Peacock. The streaming bundle will be available starting on October 20, and it will give customers access to both services at a 30 percent discount compared to purchasing individual subscriptions. Apple TV is normally $12.99 per month, while Peacock starts at $10.99 for the Premium plan that's included in the bundle. Apple One subscribers on the Family and Premier plans can add Peacock Premium Plus and receive a 35 percent discount. Peacock Premium Plus includes the option to download content and watch it offline, while the standard Premium plan does not. It also removes most ads. The Apple TV and Peacock apps will also feature an "extensive sampling" of each other's shows in app. When the bundle launches on October 20, Peacock subscribers will be able to watch the first three episodes of Stick, Slow Horses, Silo, The Buccaneers, Foundation, Palm Royale, and Prehistoric Planet from Apple TV for free. Apple TV subscribers will be able to watch up to three episodes of Law & Order, Bel-Air, Twisted Metal, Love Island Games, Happy's Place, The Hunting Party, and Real Housewives of Miami from Peacock. Apple's new bundle comes just after Apple decided to rebrand its streaming service as Apple TV, dropping the Plus and introducing a new logo . Tag: Apple TV Plus This article, " Apple TV and Peacock Launch $15 Monthly Streaming Bundle, a 30% Discount " first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums
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