Posted by from MMO Champion
This Week in WoW - May 17, 2024
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Catch up on all the latest World of Warcraft news from the last week—relive epic adventures with an all-new event—WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria, jump into the next content update to Classic—Cataclysm, outfit your collection with a new bundle deal—the Mrlgrl Pack, and more!
World of Warcraft Remix: Mists of Pandaria is Now Live!
Relive epic adventures with an all-new event— World of Warcraft Remix: Mists of Pandaria. Experience the wonders of Pandaria anew, but with fresh new loot— and (almost) unlimited power.
World of Warcraft Remix is a time-limited event that allows players to re-experience the entirety of the Mists of Pandaria expansion at an accelerated rate from level 10 through 70. All loot has been completely overhauled and has powerful new effects allowing players to shape their experience, power up, and power on. Features include:
Accelerated Leveling and Content allowing you to take on nearly every quest, scenario, dungeon and raid.
Create a new World of Warcraft Remix character starting at level 10 to adventure through the event up to level 70.
A mountain of loot: Get powerful items from everywhere— quests, chests, creatures, bosses.
Customizable items allowing you to power up as far as you can go to take on tougher content.
Convert unwanted items into Bronze which can be used to upgrade items or purchase cosmetics.
Keep what you collect: Take your collection of transmogs with you later when The War Within™ goes live.
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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Apple is developing a significantly thinner version of the iPhone [non-paywalled source] that could be released as early as 2025, The Information reported Friday, citing three people with direct knowledge of the project. From the report: The slimmer iPhone could be released concurrently with the iPhone 17, expected in September 2025, according to the three people with direct knowledge and two others familiar with the project. It could be priced higher than the iPhone Pro Max, currently Apple's most expensive model starting at $1,200, they said.
The people familiar with the project described the new iPhone, internally code-named D23, as a major redesign -- similar to the iPhone X, which Apple marketed as a technological leap from previous generations and which started at $1,000 when it was released in 2017. Several of its novel features, such as FaceID, the OLED screen and glass back, became standard in subsequent models.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the change-in-priorities department: An anonymous reader shares a report: In July last year, OpenAI announced the formation of a new research team that would prepare for the advent of supersmart artificial intelligence capable of outwitting and overpowering its creators. Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's chief scientist and one of the company's cofounders, was named as the colead of this new team. OpenAI said the team would receive 20 percent of its computing power. Now OpenAI's "superalignment team" is no more, the company confirms. That comes after the departures of several researchers involved, Tuesday's news that Sutskever was leaving the company, and the resignation of the team's other colead. The group's work will be absorbed into OpenAI's other research efforts.
Sutskever's departure made headlines because although he'd helped CEO Sam Altman start OpenAI in 2015 and set the direction of the research that led to ChatGPT, he was also one of the four board members who fired Altman in November. Altman was restored as CEO five chaotic days later after a mass revolt by OpenAI staff and the brokering of a deal in which Sutskever and two other company directors left the board. Hours after Sutskever's departure was announced on Tuesday, Jan Leike, the former DeepMind researcher who was the superalignment team's other colead, posted on X that he had resigned.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the closer-look department: Hopes that replacement fuels for airplanes will slash carbon pollution are misguided and support for these alternatives could even worsen the climate crisis, a new report has warned. The Guardian: There is currently "no realistic or scalable alternative" to standard kerosene-based jet fuels, and touted "sustainable aviation fuels" are well off track to replace them in a timeframe needed to avert dangerous climate change, despite public subsidies, the report by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive thinktank, found. "While there are kernels of possibility, we should bring a high level of skepticism to the claims that alternative fuels will be a timely substitute for kerosene-based jet fuels," the report said.
Chuck Collins, co-author of the report, said: "To bring these fuels to the scale needed would require massive subsidies, the trade-offs would be unacceptable and would take resources aware from more urgent decarbonization priorities. It's a huge greenwashing exercise by the aviation industry. It's magical thinking that they will be able to do this." In the US, Joe Biden's administration has set a goal for 3bn gallons of sustainable aviation fuel, which is made from non-petroleum sources such as food waste, woody biomass and other feedstocks, to be produced by 2030, which it said will cut aviation's planet-heating emissions by 20%.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Microsoft plans a major shakeup of its videogame sales strategy by releasing the coming installment of Call of Duty to its subscription service instead of the longtime, lucrative approach of only selling it a la carte. WSJ: The plans, which mark the biggest change to Microsoft's gaming division since it closed the $75 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard, are expected to be announced at the company's annual Xbox showcase next month, according to people familiar with the matter. Call of Duty is one of the most successful entertainment properties ever, generating over $30 billion in lifetime revenue. Activision, which makes it, has long released new editions annually, selling about 25 million copies on average, selling for around $70 each in recent years.
Before the Microsoft deal last year, Activision was reluctant to fully embrace subscription-based models for a game that still attracts a premium price. Microsoft's subscription service, Game Pass, costs $9.99 to $16.99 a month, and provides access to hundreds of games from Microsoft and dozens of other companies.
Have you been playing Fortnite recently and been absolutely hating the influx of mythical weapons that keep killing you instantly? Well, I’m happy to report that you may have a new fearsome champion on your side, and her name is Doja Cat. Yes, everyone’s favorite alternative rap girlie is a certified hater of… 
We’re reaching the end of yet another week, and that (hopefully) means we’ve got a solid 48 hours of gaming bliss lined up. Perhaps you too are looking forward to spending some time this weekend gaming, but aren’t sure what to pick. 
I first played the retro-inspired RPG Dread Delusion nearly two years ago in the first days of its early access period. I liked what I played in the handful of hours I put into it thanks to the throwback Morrowind-esque world and mechanics, as well as the hint of cosmic horror. But as someone who has a tendency to get … 
A year after Redfall’s disastrous launch, Microsoft announced it would be closing the beloved studio behind it, Arkane Austin. But it sounds like Game Pass’ vampire shooter will still get the big final update Arkane’s devs were working on after all. 
Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG franchise, Fallout, is coming to Fortnite. The franchise recently saw a massive resurgence thanks to the hit Amazon TV show. 
YouTuber and video game documentarian Summoning Salt has made a career out of chronicling remarkable tales of competition and achievement in speedrunning. He’s so good at capturing the inherent drama in these struggles that his videos routinely rack up millions of views, whether he’s recounting the history of Super Mario… 
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Creative Assembly, the developer behind the Total War series of strategy games (as well as the best Alien video game ever) is reportedly entering the galaxy far far away. According to a new report from DualShockers, the developer is working on a new entry in the Total War franchise that will be set in the Star Wars… 
The season finale of wildly popular new animated series X-Men ‘97 had Morph, the non-binary shapeshifting mutant of the titular superhero team, confess romantic feelings for Wolverine. Well, technically Morph did it after transforming into Jean Grey in an effort to get the claw-touting hero to fight through a… 
The next Call of Duty, believed to be a Black Ops sequel set during the Gulf War, will be the first new entry in the popular online shooter to be on Xbox Game Pass. That’s according to a report by The Wall Street Journal today, which said the announcement will be made at Microsoft’s big annual Xbox Showcase in June. 
