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From pwned to kiting – an A to Z of the gaming terms you need to know
Our dictionary of gaming terms helping you make sense of video game'slopaganda'. Our dictionary of gaming terms helping you make sense of video game'slopaganda'. As phrases like easter eggs and looksmaxxing enter everyday language, what other words from the world of video games might soon be mainstream? T wenty years ago, video games were seen as a niche hobby dominated by hardcore enthusiasts, tucked away in obscure online forums and gaming meet-ups. Back then, the idea that governments would use footage from Call of Duty and gaming terms such as "killstreaks" as war propaganda would have been absurd.
'A neoliberal nightmare': my ride on the Vegas Loop – Elon Musk's answer to traffic jams
'Musk profits where there are as few regulations as possible and he can dominate.' 'Musk profits where there are as few regulations as possible and he can dominate.' Ten years ago, after complaining that traffic was'driving him nuts', Musk's Boring Company began building underground tunnels to ease congestion on the roads. I t's another blindingly bright day in Las Vegas but I'm 30ft underground and strapped in for a rocket ride to the future. And it's pretty slow - my driver tells me the speed limit down here is 30mph. It's also pretty short: the journey is over in a matter of minutes.
Eight trends I've noticed from watching hour of livestreams from Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox and more
Eight trends I've noticed from watching hour of livestreams from Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox and more Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? D id spend hours of your weekend watching a relentless series of video game adverts? No? I don't blame you - Summer Game Fest, the collection of livestreams that has arisen in place of the giant annual E3 video game expo in Los Angeles, is extremely overwhelming. There are the bigger, longer shows: the PlayStation and Xbox streams, the main SGF show hosted by Geoff Keighley and Lucy James, Future's duet of the Future Games Show and the PC Gaming Show. Each show is two hours long.
They expect you to die! The history of James Bond video games, from the good to the bad to the downright ugly
They expect you to die! Interactive takes on MI6's globetrotting spy have been around almost as long as the films, but that doesn't mean all of them were a success. 'The enormity of the idea helped me': how Patrick Gibson became gaming's new James Bond Bond finally arrived in an official video game capacity in 1984, courtesy of Parker Brothers. The game grouped several 007 adventures (Diamonds Are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only) together. Yet despite including elements from each movie, it was essentially the same game throughout: an unsatisfying and tricky mashup of the arcade games Moon Patrol and Scramble, with the player controlling Bond's amphibious Lotus from The Spy Who Loved Me. Obscure pub trivia fact: due to the dispute between Bond producers Eon and screenwriter Kevin McClory, the Diamonds Are Forever segment replaced Blofeld with a villain named Seraffino.
'There are no rules': spotlight on Gossip Goblin as AI film-making enters new era
'Our characters are cybernetic or larger than life,' said Zak London, the founder of Gossip Goblin. 'We adapt to the limits of AI acting.' 'Our characters are cybernetic or larger than life,' said Zak London, the founder of Gossip Goblin. 'We adapt to the limits of AI acting.' 'There are no rules': spotlight on Gossip Goblin as AI film-making enters new era Defying criticisms of'slop' and'theft', the growing culture of AI-powered creativity is attracting interest from Hollywood In a former hemstitching workshop where artisans sewed pleats for Stockholm's 19th-century bourgeoisie, a distinctly 21st-century craft is taking root: AI film-making. One day last week, an actor, director and composer squeezed into a tiny studio booth to record a voiceover for their next AI release. But this had a distinctly homespun feel, the little team fussing over a monologue by a poetic Scottish gorilla inhabiting a transhumanist cyberpunk universe.
Flaws in Kenya's AI-driven health reforms driving up costs for the poorest
The new'AI-powered' healthcare system appears to penalise the poorest. The new'AI-powered' healthcare system appears to penalise the poorest. An AI system used to predict how much Kenyans can afford to pay for access to healthcare, has systemically driven up costs for the poor, an investigation has found. The healthcare system being rolled out across the country, a key electoral promise of President William Ruto, was launched in October 2024 and intended to replace Kenya's decades-old national insurance system. Billed as " accelerating digital transformation ", it aimed to expand access to care to Kenya's large informal economy: the day labourers, hawkers, farmers and non-salaried workers that make up 83% of its workforce.
Cannes AI film festival raises eyebrows – and questions about future
A still from animated film La Sélection Mécanique, directed by Jules Blachier. A still from animated film La Sélection Mécanique, directed by Jules Blachier. While emerging technology is banned from the Palme d'Or, an upstart movement is gaining investment and attention I n Cannes' darkened screening rooms, the supposed future of cinema flickered into life this week and it was strange. The first edition of the World AI film festival (WAIFF) showcased visions of men with fish scales erupting from their necks and seaweed from their mouths, a heroine with a heart beating outside her body and so many massed armies of AI-generated tanned men sweeping across battlefields that David Lean would have blushed. Last week the Cannes film festival, entering its 76th year, banned the emerging technology from its Palme d'Or competition, insisting "AI imitates very well but it will never feel deep emotions".
Inside Chornobyl: 40 years after disaster, nuclear site still at risk in Russia's war
A worker checks the radiation level inside the control room of reactor No 4, where the Chornobyl disaster happened in 1986. A worker checks the radiation level inside the control room of reactor No 4, where the Chornobyl disaster happened in 1986. In February 2025, a cheap Russian drone tore through Chornobyl's confinement shelter. Workers warn the site of the world's worst nuclear accident is not safe yet The dosimeter clipped to your chest ticks faster the moment you step off the designated path inside the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. Step back, and it slows again - an invisible line between clean ground and contamination.
'It feels as if I've made a new best friend': my experiment with AI journalling
This adds another way for your inner life to be read by prying eyes, though you can opt out. A lifelong diary writer himself, Reinberg launched the app because he was fascinated by journalling, psychology and tech. He has no professional background or education in therapy. "We are not a clinical or a therapy tool," he says. "We're focused on self-reflection and finding connections between entries, holding up a mirror that helps you to make progress in your life." One feature I don't like is that it analyses each entry and gives a percentage score for your dominant emotions.
Is surprise box-office hit Iron Lung the future of 'video game films'?
Is surprise box-office hit Iron Lung the future of'video game films'? The YouTube gaming star's weird and divisive adaptation of his obscure horror film is a game within a film about a game - and hints at new directions for storytelling Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? S omething weird struck me early on while watching the movie Iron Lung, which has so far taken $32m at the box office, despite being a grungy low-budget sci-fi thriller adapted from an independent video game few people outside of the horror gaming community have even heard of. Set after a galactic apocalypse, it follows a convict who must buy his freedom by piloting a rusty submarine through an ocean of human blood on a distant planet. Ostensibly, he's looking for relics that may prove vital for scientific research, but what he finds is much more ghastly.