The Notebook: Gavin Poole on AI, London’s esports crown and virtual reality skills June 7, 2023 The Notebook is where interesting people say interesting things. Today, it’s Gavin Poole, chief executive of Stratford tech hub Here East. Friend or foe? Why we should avoid snap calls on the future of artificial intelligence Last week, almost every front page of our national newspapers quoted the ‘AI pioneers’ warning us that AI advancements [...]
Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard bid would mean higher prices and less choice for gamers, CMA probe warns February 8, 2023 Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of gaming firm Activision Blizzard could result in higher prices, fewer choices or less innovation for UK gamers, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said. In the provisional findings of its five-month investigation into the 68.7 billion dollar (£56.7 billion) deal, the CMA said the merger could make Microsoft stronger, stifle [...]
Marvel Snap new Season Pass: The best MODOK discard deck February 7, 2023 The wildly popular Marvel Snap today launched its latest Season Pass, including a powerful new set of cards. Chief among them is a new five energy MODOK card, which promises to shift the meta in the deck building card strategy game. Previous season passes have see the introduction of cards including Miles Morales, Silver Surfer, [...]
Five games from 2022 you need to play this Christmas December 23, 2022 Giving a definitive list of the best games of the year is a virtually impossible task when a single title might take over 100 hours to fully complete. So this isn’t a best-of list, rather a recommendation of some games that have moved, surprised or gripped me over the last 12 months, from a free-to-play [...]
New Harry Potter game lets players pay to kill, torture characters December 15, 2022 Hogwarts Legacy, an upcoming video game unveiled features that allow users to buy in-game access to murder and torture spells. Avalanche Studios, the game’s developers, released promotional material earlier today, introducing a pay-to-play feature of the Harry Potter spin-off. In the “battle arena” segment of the game, players will be able to try out “spells” [...]
Tencent vows to ‘distribute’ $20.3bn Meituan shares to investors November 16, 2022 Tencent has vowed to give its shareholders $20.3bn (£17.4bn) worth of shares in Chinese food delivery firm Meituan as it seeks to reduce its holdings in China’s tech sector. The Shenzhen conglomerate’s “special dividend” comes as its sales dropped two per cent year-on-year, to £16.6bn, on the back of a five per cent drop in [...]
Of dice and men: How Ian Livingstone conquered the nerd universe November 11, 2022 In a leafy enclave of West London, Ian Livingstone is balanced precariously upon a chair in his study, grasping for a top-shelf box filled with incredibly rare figurines. The legs of the chair creak in protest, and there is a moment when I fear I may be responsible for the untimely death of the man [...]
David Beckham-backed esports firm signs big sponsorship deal with Sky September 26, 2022 David Beckham-backed Guild Esports has signed a huge sponsorship deal with Sky UK, in its larges agreement to date. The online gaming group signed a three-year agreement with the multi-media giant in the eighth revenue-generating deal signed by the firm since it floated on the London Stock Exchange. It is understood to be one of [...]
Revenues climb for Keywords Studio as it snaps up Mighty Games in market share push August 3, 2022 Revenues climbed 34 per cent to €320m for Keywords Studio as the video game giant announces a fresh acquisition of Mighty Games.
The Commonwealths are the ‘Local Global Games’ July 24, 2022 The Commonwealth Games begin in Birmingham this week. It’s the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, so where better than England’s second city? They should, however, be taking place in Durban, which would have become the first African city to host the Games. The opening day would have been last week – on 18 July, Nelson Mandela’s birthday [...]