Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the stranger-things department: Nintendo has filed a request for subpoena in California's Northern District Court to compel Discord to reveal the identity of user "GameFreakOUT," the alleged source of last year's extensive Pokemon leak. The company is demanding the name, address, phone number, and email of the individual behind the "Teraleak," which contained claimed source code for upcoming title Pokemon Legends: Z-A, next-generation Pokemon games, builds of older titles, and numerous concept art and lore documents.

Court documents obtained by Polygon show Nintendo included a partially redacted Discord screenshot as evidence, where GameFreakOUT shared files in a server named "FreakLeak." The breach occurred around October 12, 2024, two days after Game Freak publicly acknowledged a hack affecting employee information without confirming game data theft.
Posted by Super_Megatron from TFW2005


TFcon is very happy to welcome Charlie Adler the voices of Starscream in Transformers (2007), Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon as well as Silverbolt, Triggerhappy and Vorath in Generation 1 as a guest at TFcon Chicago 2025. Charlie will be signing autographs for the attendees of America’s largest fan-run Transformers convention. Presented by The Chosen Prime. Tickets on sale at https://www.tfcon.com

The post Transformers voice actor Charlie Adler to attend TFcon Chicago 2025 appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.
Posted by Brandon Morgan from Kotaku
The world of Oblivion Remastered allows for a lot of leeway in how you approach situations, whether you’re sneaking by guards, sword fighting like a swashbuckler, slinging magic spells, or, perhaps, talking your way out of situations. The latter often proves the most challenging for one reason: the persuasion…

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Posted by Billy Givens from Kotaku
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a deep and lengthy role-playing adventure with multiple characters, each with skill trees to flesh out. So, of course, as you advance through the game and unlock new skills, you’ll find that you can optimize your characters’ synergy with one another.

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Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
Star Wars Andor is back just over two years after its first season ended on Disney+. The first three episodes of season two premiered on Disney+ on April 22 and the show is just as good as before, with lots of great dialogue, intense action, and a whole bunch of tension. And sprinkled throughout all of this are some…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Apple was fined 500 million euros ($570 million) on Wednesday and Meta 200 million euros, as European Union antitrust regulators handed out the first sanctions under landmark legislation aimed at curbing the power of Big Tech. From a report: The EU fines could stoke tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump who has threatened to levy tariffs against countries that penalise U.S. companies. WSJ adds more details: The commission also issued cease-and-desist orders that could have a bigger impact than the fines. One order targets Apple's App Store and the other takes aim at Meta's use of personalized ads -- important revenue streams for each company.

[...] The EU's action against Meta focuses on the company's effort to get users to agree to seeing personalized ads on Instagram and Facebook -- its main source of revenue. The commission ordered Meta to stop requiring users to either agree to those ads or pay for a subscription. It said it was still evaluating whether a "less-personalized ads" option that Meta introduced last fall complies with that order, raising the specter of further changes.

The Apple case deals with the company's App Store rules. The commission said Apple had failed to comply with an obligation to allow app developers to inform customers, free of charge, of alternative ways to purchase digital products.
Posted by Ethan Gach and Andy Mills from Kotaku
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Posted by Billy Givens from Kotaku
If you’ve been itching for an RPG that mixes old-school turn-based combat with a penchant for modern flair, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is probably on your radar. Considering its stunning art style, immersive and rewarding combat system, and genuinely compelling narrative, it’s hard to blame you for being interested.

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the existential-crisis department: The world's coral reefs have been pushed into "uncharted territory" by the worst global bleaching event on record that has now hit more than 80% of the planet's reefs, scientists have warned. From a report: Reefs in at least 82 countries and territories have been exposed to enough heat to turn corals white since the global event started in January 2023, the latest data from the US government's Coral Reef Watch shows.

Coral reefs are known as the rainforests of the sea because of their high concentration of biodiversity that supports about a third of all marine species and a billion people. But record high ocean temperatures have spread like an underwater wildfire over corals across the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, damaging and killing countless corals.
Posted by Black Convoy from TFW2005


Threezero has updated their site with images with the upcoming MDLX Red Alert. MDLX is the smaller line from Threezero with most figures around 8 inches tall and retail for about $80. This is a redeco with a new head of the previous MDLX Sideswipe (which you can find our in-hand gallery on this link) MDLX Red Alert will be available for pre-order on 29 April, 2025 at 9am HKT at threezero Store, threezero Tmall, and selected distribution partners worldwide, and planner for release by the 4th Quarter 2025. See the mirrored gallery, product description and official turnaround video attached to » Continue Reading.

The post Transformers MDLX Red Alert Official Images appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.
Posted by Kenneth Shepard from Kotaku
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has a lot of moving parts in its turn-based battle system. Though the RPG does a decent job of introducing things to you slowly, by the time you have a full party, you’re juggling pretty distinct characters with bespoke playstyles and trying to find some way to make them fit together. Part…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the reality-check department: Amazon's internet-from-space venture is struggling to ramp up production, jeopardizing its ability to meet a government deadline to have more than 1,600 satellites in orbit by next summer. From a report: Project Kuiper has completed just a few dozen satellites so far, more than a year into its manufacturing program, according to three people familiar with the situation. The slow pace, combined with rocket launch delays, means the company will probably have to seek an extension from the Federal Communications Commission, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential matters.

The agency, which has oversight of transmissions from space, expects the company to have half its planned constellation of 3,236 satellites operating by the end of July 2026. To meet that requirement, Amazon would have to at least quadruple the current rate of production, which has yet to consistently reach one satellite a day, two of the people said.
Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
A lot of current-gen ports seem like a slam dunk for the Switch 2, and you might assume Diablo IV was one of them. But franchise boss Rod Fergusson recently appeared to pour cold water on the idea that the Blizzard game would be coming to Nintendo’s new console anytime soon. While it could run on the hardware, he…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the big-empire department: On its 20th anniversary, YouTube now says that since YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim's video -- "Me at the zoo" -- was posted, more than 20 trillion videos have been uploaded. From a report: The video behemoth dropped a number of jaw-dropping stats Wednesday, along with significant updates to its TV experience, which has become a strategic priority for the platform, all connected to its anniversary. YouTube says that as of March 2025, more than 20 million videos are uploaded every single day, and that in 2024 users posted more than 100 million comments on videos, on average, every day.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the paring-expectations department: Analysts at UBS and Gartner have significantly reduced their growth forecasts for global PC and smartphone markets as a result of mounting pressures from trade tariffs and broader macroeconomic uncertainties that are expected to impact consumer demand through 2026. From a report: In a pair of research reports sent to their clients on Wednesday, UBS and Gartner revised down their global PC shipments forecast for 2025 and 2026 from previous estimates of 5% and 4% growth to just 2% for both years, citing the potential impact of trade policy and macroeconomic headwinds. The investment bank and Gartner also cut their global smartphone shipment growth forecast for 2025 to 1% (1,235 million units) from 2%, while reducing its 2026 projection from 1% growth to flat at 1,235 million units.

The outlook is particularly grim for the US market, which accounts for 24% of global PC units and 31% of global PC value. UBS expects the region to be disproportionately affected by tariff measures, projecting US PC demand could decline by 1.1% in 2025 before registering a modest 0.8% recovery in 2026, significantly underperforming compared to the mid-single-digit growth forecasts for other regions.
Posted by John Walker from Kotaku
Seven years ago, Wadjet Eye Games released Unavowed, a point-and-click adventure that took the industry by surprise. Incorporating ideas from BioWare RPGs, this was a game in which the companions you took with you for any mission changed not only how the puzzles were solved, but how the story was told. It was…

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Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
Switch 2 preorders don’t begin in the U.S. until late tonight (12:01 a.m. ET on April 24), but they’ve already been underway in other parts of the world and even Nintendo has been shocked by the level of demand so far. The company said that, with over 2.2 million fans seeking to preorder a Switch 2 directly from My…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the closer-look department: Indonesian migrant fishermen working in Taiwan's distant-water fishing fleet are trapped in brutal conditions that strip away basic human communication. Sailors spend up to 10 months at sea, working 22-hour days with no internet access, unable to contact families or report workplace hazards. A coalition of labor rights groups, 404 Media, is pushing to mandate Wi-Fi on ships, challenging an industry that intentionally isolates workers and prevents them from seeking help or organizing.
Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
Open-world samurai adventure Ghost of Yotei is the latest blockbuster to stake out a release date in a fall calendar overshadowed by the impending arrival of Grand Theft Auto VI. The sequel to Ghost of Tsushima will come to PlayStation 5 in October as we get more release dates for the second half of 2025.

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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the jurisdictionally-nowhere department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: A U.S. appeals court on Monday revived a proposed data privacy class action against Shopify, a decision that could make it easier for American courts to assert jurisdiction over internet-based platforms. In a 10-1 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the Canadian e-commerce company can be sued in California for collecting personal identifying data from people who make purchases on websites of retailers from that state.

Brandon Briskin, a California resident, said Shopify installed tracking software known as cookies on his iPhone without his consent when he bought athletic wear from the retailer I Am Becoming, and used his data to create a profile it could sell to other merchants. Shopify said it should not be sued in California because it operates nationwide and did not aim its conduct toward that state. The Ottawa-based company said Briskin could sue in Delaware, New York or Canada. A lower court judge and a three-judge 9th Circuit panel had agreed the case should be dismissed, but the full appeals court said Shopify "expressly aimed" its conduct toward California.

"Shopify deliberately reached out ... by knowingly installing tracking software onto unsuspecting Californians' phones so that it could later sell the data it obtained, in a manner that was neither random, isolated, or fortuitous," Circuit Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote for the majority. A spokesman for Shopify said the decision "attacks the basics of how the internet works," and drags entrepreneurs who run online businesses into distant courtrooms regardless of where they operate. Shopify's next legal steps are unclear.
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