In April, game developer Stamina Zero achieved what should have been a marketing slam-dunk: the launch trailer for the studio's game Little Droid was published on PlayStation's official YouTube channel. The response was a surprise for the developer. The game looks interesting, people wrote in the comments, but was "ruined" by AI art. But the game's cover art, used as the thumbnail for the YouTube video, was in fact made by a real person, according to developer Lana Ro. "We know the artist, we've seen her work, so such a negative reaction was unexpected for us, and at first we didn't know how to respond or how to feel," Ro said. It's not wrong for people to be worried about AI use in video games – in fact, it's good to be sceptical, and ensure that the media you support aligns with your values. Common arguments against generative AI relate to environmental impact, art theft and just general quality, and video game developers are grappling with how generative AI will impact their jobs.

Over the weekend, the Guardian published a trio of stories about video game addiction. One was about the 850 people referred to an NHS treatment clinic in the last three years (of whom 227 were under 18). Another was on developers' use of tactics from the gambling industry to keep people spending on games. The third was by the director of the National Centre for Gaming Disorders, calling for industry regulation to better protect young people. These stories concern a problem that is certainly real, especially so for people affected by compulsive gaming behaviour, whose stories are no less affecting than those of gambling addicts.

Technical advancements make skill-based matchmaking techniques better every year, enticing average audiences to play more. But those same changes have also left a sour taste in some players' mouths who publishers have a vested interest in keeping happy -- their live streams help market games. Game companies have the seemingly impossible task of satisfying both sides; on one end, the massive player base of everyday gamers that define their bottom line and, on the other, the pros and content creators they use as for PR for those same audiences. But if these systems are indeed built to maximize players' enjoyment, it can sometimes seem like they're not working very well. Hate for skill-based matchmaking is hardly a phenomenon confined to top streamers or salty Call of Duty players. As awareness about these algorithms grows, communities in "Valorant," "Overwatch," "Apex Legends" and even more casual games like "FIFA" and "Dead by Daylight" have all, at one point or another, sharply criticized matchmaking for reducing their enjoyment of the game.

Video game developers are champing at the bit ahead of an influx of money from some of the biggest technology companies in the world as they compete to build a "Netflix for games". At the centre of the contest are Microsoft and Sony, followed by less gaming-centric companies such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix who have all launched subscription services in an attempt to entice gamers on to their platforms. Microsoft has spent four years building up its flagship subscription, Xbox Game Pass, which offers unlimited access to more than 100 games for its Xbox family of consoles for a £10.99 monthly fee. In March, Sony announced plans to compete directly with Game Pass with a raft of changes to its PlayStation Plus service, which will eventually launch with 700 titles for £13.49 a month (or £99.99 a year), though largely focused on older titles. Alongside the two console manufacturers, a host of companies have launched similar services.

Fox News contributor Karl Rove reacts to Trump blasting the media and Big Tech for being'massively corrupt.' WASHINGTON – Congressman-elect Jay Obernolte, a 50-year-old who is a video game developer by trade, will be a bit of an outlier in Congress. That's because members of Congress are not necessarily known as a technologically savvy bunch. This reputation has been earned by many awkward moments and stumbles by members when discussing tech, including in a 2018 hearing when Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., told Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, "I use your apparatus often," referring to Google, the search engine. But Obernolte – whose company FarSight Studios creates games for a variety of platforms ranging from PlayStation to iOS – said that, with the right approach, Congress can and should effectively address major tech issues ranging from net neutrality to Section 230. "I actually think that sometimes we get caught up in jargon from a technological standpoint, which is not helpful because I don't think the technology is unapproachable," he told Fox News in an interview.

Blizzard Entertainment has banned a professional Hearthstone player who expressed support for protestors in Hong Kong during a live broadcast following the recent Asia-Pacific Grandmasters tournament in which the top pro players from the region participate -- and rescinded the money he won in the competition. Blizzard Entertainment, a U.S.-based video game developer that's a part of the entertainment company Activision Blizzard, is the publisher behind the digital collectible card game Hearthstone. During a post-game interview Sunday on the official Hearthstone Taiwan livestream, the player, Ng "Blitzchung" Wai Chung, pulled down a pro-democracy Hong Kong-style mask and shouted, "Liberate Hong Kong. Inven Global, a website that covers esports and gaming news, reports that Blitzchung shouted the phrase in Chinese. Blitzchung is from Hong Kong, according to Inven Global. A clip of the interview can be seen here. In response, Blizzard, a U.S.-based video game developer, banned Blitzchung from competing in Hearthstone tournaments for a year, starting on Oct. 5. The company said Blitzchung has been removed from the Grandmasters roster, and will not receive any prize money he earned during the Grandmasters season 2 tournament. According to a statement from Blizzard, Blitzchung violated a competition rule that bars players from doing anything that "brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image." Blitzchung lost $10,000 in prize earnings, Bloomberg reports. In a statement to Inven Global, Blitzchung said he viewed his comments as a continuation of his participation in the protests. "As you know, there are serious protests in my country now.

Amid the news-packed chaos that is the Electronic Entertainment Expo -- or E3 for short -- TIME caught up with Doug Bowser, the president of Nintendo of America. Our conversation followed a busy day for Nintendo, which on Tuesday announced a sequel to the much-loved The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and revealed more details about Luigi's Mansion 3, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and more. Unlike some of its competitors, however, Nintendo was tight-lipped when it came to hardware, using this year's E3 to instead focus on new games for its console/mobile hybrid Switch platform. Speaking via phone from the E3 floor, Bowser discussed Nintendo's latest news, the company's efforts to appeal to a wide range of gamers, and how it can help address crunch and burnout among video game developers. The following conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

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For Thursday, December 20, on Digital Trends Live, our host Greg Nibler sat down with the Director of Emerging Tech for USA Today, Ray Soto, to talk about how the news organization is using virtual reality and augmented reality to create compelling interactive stories. Soto started his career as a video game developer, never imaging he would enter the world of VR. "I did not expect to get into creative storytelling within USA Today and news, but when I think about, it's a perfect fit, virtual reality and augmented reality the tools are very similar to what you find in the video game industry. When you consider my background -- video game developer -- we are passionate about telling stories. It was definitely a transition, it was a challenge, because when you consider video games being highly creative, in the news space you can't make stuff up, so there was quite a bit of a learning curve but something that I very much appreciate having the opportunity to make that transition from video games into creative storytelling. The conversation about integrating VR started five years ago and the initial challenge was finding how it would fit in the world of USA Today. "The conversations really started off with what do we do with this platform, that provides a unique perspective for the audience.

Every year since 1981, the MacArthur Foundation has handed out the "Genius Grant," awarding a handful of individuals $625,000 each in recognition of their creative skills and success in their chosen field. The money is no-strings-attached, designed to act as an open investment in that person and their work. The chosen Fellows come from an extensive range of industries, from philosophers and filmmakers to journalists and jazz performers. There are absolutely no video game developers. "The grant program has basically been concurrent with the entire history of video games," Mohawk Games CEO Soren Johnson said. "It just seems really weird that they basically pretend that video games don't exist."