Technology

Ex-PlayStation executive Shawn Layden has shared his perspective on the current state of the games industry.

During a conversation at Gamescom Asia (via GamesIndustry.biz) with Raw Fury co-founder and chief publishing officer Gordon Van Dyke, Layden talked about the disappearance of AA studios and the negative impact it's had on the industry.

According to the former executive, who spent 30 years at Sony, there used to be more time spent looking at games than asking about a studio's "monetization scheme" or "recurrent revenue plan". He explained that he used to ask simple questions about a game along the lines of "Is it fun?" or "Are we having a good time", and if the answer was yes, the project would be greenlit.

"You didn't worry so much about the end piece, for better or for worse," Layden said. "Of course back then you didn't make a game for millions [of] dollars. So your risk tolerance was fairly high.

"Today, the entry costs for making a AAA game is in triple digit millions now. I think naturally, risk tolerance drops. And you're [looking] at sequels, you're looking at copycats, because the finance guys who draw the line say, 'Well, if Fortnite made this much money in this amount of time, my Fortnite knockoff can make this in that amount of time.' We're seeing a collapse of creativity in games today [with] studio consolidation and the high cost of production."

Van Dyke later asked Layden whether indie games can be a "beacon of hope" with the loss of AA studios and amid the current monetization trends in the industry.

To this Layden agreed, saying in the business there are blockbuster games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto, and then there are the indie titles, but "that middle layer that used to be where Interplay, Gremlin, Ocean, THQ, all those companies, made their money... That middle piece is gone."

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

"If you [can become] AAA, you survive, or if you do something interesting in the indie space, you could," Layden said. "But AA is gone. I think that's a threat to the ecosystem if you will. So I'm looking at indie stuff… With the advent of technologies, like the latest Unreal Engine or what Unity can give you, I think we can all say that the standard quality of video games is pretty high now compared to ten years ago."

Layden said that thanks to advancements in tools, games have now increased in quality unlike 10 years ago, adding, "Now if we can just get a bit more interest and excitement and exposure for these lower budget, but super creative and super unusual [type] of games... I'd like to see more of that," he said. "Because if we're just going to rely on the blockbusters to get us through, I think that's a death sentence."

According to Layden, AA has a "natural niche" among the blockbuster titles and indie games, and that is to bring "the new thing" instead of "a dollar store version of God of War".

"If you're going to pitch me your AA game, and in the first two pages of your deck is your monetisation and revenue, subscription scheme, I'm out. Your first page has to be 'This game needs to be made and here's why'," he said.

"I want to see that fire, I don't want to see 'here's the chief accountant on the team that's going to explain to you the [game's monetisation]'."

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A Singaporean remote hiring platform left a large database unprotected on the internet, accessible to anyone who knew where to look. Since the database contained plenty of sensitive information, the company has inadvertently placed hundreds of thousands of people at risk of data theft, identity theft, phishing, fraud, and more.

The Cybernews research team discovered a misconfigured Amazon AWS S3 bucket in early August 2024 said to contain more than 280,000 files, including CVs and resumes.

Further investigation attributed the database to Snaphunt, an online hiring platform that connects employers with job seekers. Although it’s based in Singapore, the company is global, and thus most likely holds sensitive information on people around the world. It offers features like pre-screening, skills assessments, and remote hiring tools.

Social engineering

The archive contained information generated between 2018 and 2023, including people’s full names, phone numbers, email addresses, places of birth, nationality, date of birth, social media links, employment history, and educational background.

“The potential for social engineering attacks is elevated, as attackers can impersonate fake recruitment agencies or leverage the leaked data to infiltrate professional networks, spreading malware or extracting further confidential information,” Cybernews explained.

Job-related scams are nothing new - just this week, news broke that a company got hacked after hiring a North Korean hacker who faked their entire identity. The unnamed firm lost sensitive data and was demanded a six-figure ransom payment in exchange.

Unprotected databases remain one of the most common causes of data leaks. Many organizations, including some of the world’s biggest enterprises, were found operating internet-accessible archives with no password protection, putting many of their customers at risk.

Most of the time, the vulnerability is nothing more than an honest employee mistake.

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Google’s incredible podcast generator, NotebookLM, is one of the wildest AI tools we’ve ever used, and it just got a massive upgrade that makes it even scarier.

Today, Google announced huge updates to its AI podcast tool, which means you can now guide the conversation and direct the hosts - yes, that’s right, you can now play the role of producer in an AI-generated podcast!

Before today’s update, the tool built with Gemini 1.5 would simply convert any text, audio, or video you fed it into a discussion between two hosts - it was really impressive and lifelike but there was no way to guide the conversation.

Now, Google has added a “Customize” button that lets you steer the discussion and give the hosts show notes. Google says to “think of it like slipping the AI hosts a quick note right before they go on the air, which will change how they cover your material.”

NotebookLM was already dystopian enough, and almost impossible to discern whether the hosts chatting were real or AI, but now with this new ability, we might start to see full AI-generated podcasts on Spotify and Apple Podcasts (that’s if they don’t exist already).

Want to try AI podcast generation for yourself? Check out how to use NotebookLM.

That’s not all, folks

(Image credit: Google/Apple)

Google may have just casually dropped the biggest NotebookLM update to date but guiding the conversation isn’t the only new addition.

A new background listening feature allows you to listen to NotebookLM Audio Overviews while working on other NotebookLM projects. That might not sound like a huge deal but considering it can take a long time to generate each audio clip, making multiple clips at once and listening to them is a significant improvement.

Combined, both new NotebookLM features take the already mind-blowing AI tool and make it substantially better. I wasn’t sold on the idea until I heard this incredible adaptation of my colleague's blog. If you want to hear just how realistic AI can be, listen below:

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The NotebookLM tool generates AI-hosted audio podcasts on any topic. Its latest update allows users to enter prompts to personalize the output. I tried it out.

Netflix continues to deliver on the animation front. Having recently dropped another Arcane season 2 trailer, it's also released two more for two beloved film series'. Both feature animated animals and have surprisingly ominous vibes. Of course, neither will qualify for our best horror movies feature but the animations definitely have an edge to them.

The newest entry into the iconic Wallace and Gromit franchise was featured in my previous Netflix movies we're looking forward to feature and I'm even more excited now that the first proper trailer has dropped. Elsewhere, popular musical Sing is getting a new short that's arriving in time for Halloween.

Here's everything you need to know.

What can expect from Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl?

Release date: January 3
Director: Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park
Main cast: Ben Whitehead, Peter Kay, Reece Shearsmith, Diane Morgan

He's back! Following his first appearance in the 1993 short film The Wrong Trousers, Feathers McGraw is here to get revenge after Wallace and Gromit put him behind bars following his diamond heist. When the cheese-loving inventor creates a "smart gnome", it seems to develop a mind of its own and creates a pretty bad reputation for Wallace. It will surely come as no surprise to you that McGraw's got something to do with it.

The penguin (or is he a chicken?) has long been an ominous presence with those dead, beady eyes and he's creepy here too, as he's seen sipping from a World's Best Boss mug in the style of Michael Scott. A much creepier Michael Scott, that is.

What can we expect from Sing: Thriller?

Release date: October 16 (now playing!)
Director: Garth Jennings
Main cast: Matthew McConaughey, Tori Kelly, Nick Kroll, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton

If our usual Halloween recommendations are too scary, Sing's latest short provides some spooky fun that's safe for the whole family. As you probably guessed by the trailer, it's based on the iconic Michael Jackson hit Thriller, dance moves included.

Specifically, Buster Moon and the cast of Sing: Thriller leave to celebrate at Clay Calloway’s Halloween party after staging a "spectacular" version of Thriller at the New Moon Theatre. But they discover a mysterious, multi-coloured ooze has transformed Clay and his guests into "dancing freaks", which isn't a very nice name to call them, but sure! A much more relaxed Halloween experience, I'm sure.

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Microsoft is rolling out an update preview for the Microsoft Store, probably hoping to get users to spend more time (and maybe even some money) in it, and the biggest changes are for product pages for apps and games, which get a Netflix-like visual refresh. The preview, dubbed version 22409, is currently available to Windows Insiders in all Insider Channels – and Microsoft says that it will be available to all users soon.

Microsoft is bringing what it calls ‘an immersive experience’ to the top of app pages instead of just images and text descriptions. When you visit the page of an app or a game that has a trailer, it’ll play as you navigate around the product page. If the app or game doesn’t have an accompanying trailer, you’ll see a large catchy promotional image from the developers instead.

If you’re a user of a streaming platform (not pointing any fingers, but Netflix has been a little prolific in this) that has developed a hatred of autoplay ads, Microsoft does thankfully reassure users that you’ll be able to disable video autoplay in the Microsoft Store’s settings.

The company also notes that these new reworked product pages will be available in both light and dark modes to match your Windows 11 themes.

We’ll have to see how app and game developers respond, and Microsoft is encouraging them to make use of the Microsoft Store’s new capabilities.

(Image credit: Microsoft) One small step for the Microsoft Store...

It’s not the biggest or boldest change in the world, but I could see how gradual improvements to the user experience like this could persuade more people to try the Microsoft Store, a part of Windows 10 and Windows 11 that Microsoft is keen for more people to use.

This development follows a pretty notable update that was intended to make the Microsoft Store faster and easier to use overall. If this works as intended, hopefully you should notice that it loads faster, as well as appearing more organized - so you can find apps and games more easily.

While the company is keen to get more people to use its rather unloved store (compared to Apple’s successful App store for Macs), I can also understand why Microsoft doesn’t roll out huge updates at once. Especially considering the journey Windows 11 has been on, updates can sometimes be buggy or even disruptive thanks to unexpected quirks. 

I'd like to see the Microsoft Store become a robust, functional, and trustworthy place for Windows users to download and install apps and games - and that’s not going to happen if Microsoft rushes out a load of updates that break almost as many things as they fix. If Microsoft really wants the Microsoft Store to be a success, it’s going to have to take its time.

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Google Flights is adding new options to help you find the absolute cheapest deal for your next getaway – that is if you’re willing to make your trip a little more complex and less convenient.

Previously, if you’ve used Google Flights to help your source cheap air fares the results will be decided based on an algorithm that balances price and convenience. However, if you’re willing to sacrifice some of the latter there could be a better deal out there, and that’s where the new 'Cheapest' tab comes in.

While browsing options within Google Flights you can now swap from Best to Cheapest to see the lowest-cost options. Perhaps they’re sourced from a third-party booking site rather than the airline, or it could be that Google suggests a round trip that starts and ends at different airports in the same city.

Google’s official blog adds that other inconveniences could include flights with longer layovers, self-transfers, or purchasing different legs of your trip across different booking sites.

Obviously there are some significant additional factors to consider with these trickier options. If you fly in and out of different airports you’ll likely need to rely on a cab, public transport or a friend to drop you off or pick you up, which may involve additional coast, and if you arrange a self-transfer you’ll be responsible for picking up your luggage and checking it on your next flight – and if there are any delays you could get stranded at an airport that isn’t your destination.

But if you’re willing to take on these additional inconveniences and risks, the new Cheapest tab is worth exploring if you're simply looking for the lowest-possible price – and even if you’re more risk averse it’s worth a glance to see if the savings can tempt you.

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From The Jimi Hendrix Experience to Haim, Boygenius and Bananarama, when it comes to music, trios can be tremendous – and that applies to the hardware we hear them on too. And Sony's trio of top-end headphones, the WF-1000XM5, WH-1000XM5 and LinkBuds S, have just got a bunch of new features that make some of the best Sony headphones even better.

The new features are available via a firmware update that should arrive automatically via your app. And among the new features there's the much-wanted support for Google's Find My service, which enables you to locate errant earbuds and hiding headphones – it can be a huge timesaver. There is a slight catch, however: the feature only works if your headphones are set to Classic Audio connections.

Sony's headphone update: key new features

In addition to Find My, Sony has also introduced support for Google Fast Pair, and the update also delivers Auto Switch, which enables you to easily transfer audio from the WF-1000XM5 and WH-1000XM5 to the new the new LinkBuds speaker that launched recently.

In order to get the firmware update, you'll need to be running iOS 16 or later, Android 9.0 or later, and the Sony Sound Connect app. The update version depends on your hardware: as Notebookcheck.net reports, it's firmware version 2.3.1 for the WF-1000XM5, firmware version 4.0.2 for the WH-1000XM5 and firmware version 4.2.1 for the LinkBuds S.

These are very welcome updates, especially the Find My one: if like us your earbuds are always doing a disappearing act, it'll save a great deal of searching and probably reduce your swearing too. It's a feature we love to see on the best wireless earbuds especially (given that they're more prone to being lost). Quietly, one of the big selling points of the AirPods Pro 2 is their near-unloseable case, and it's great to see some version of Find My becoming common on more and more buds.

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Two individuals accused of DDoSing big tech firms, as well as the FBI, have been officially charged by the US government.

The duo, according to the indictment, were part of Anonymous Sudan, which engaged in recent Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against the University of Cambridge, multiple French government agencies, Microsoft, and ChatGPT, to name a few.

Now, in an unsealed indictment, the US Attorney’s Office claims Ahmed Salah Yousif Omer, and Alaa Salah Yusuuf Omer, are members of the hacking collective. They were "operating and controlling Anonymous Sudan”, the government agency says, “an online cyber criminal group responsible for tens of thousands of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against critical infrastructure, corporate networks, and government agencies in the United States and around the world."

CISA recommendations

The pair were charged with one count of conspiracy to damage protected computers, with Ahmed Salah also being charged with three counts of damaging protected computers.

The group first appeared in the media in early 2023. Around January that year, it was reported that Anonymous Sudan targeted Swedish organizations with DDoS attacks. The group claimed to be a Sudanese hacktivist collective motivated by political reasons, but subsequent investigations suggested that "Anonymous Sudan" was likely a Russian information operation designed to disrupt Sweden’s NATO application process​.

Although initially portraying themselves as part of the broader "Anonymous" movement, cybersecurity analysts have largely dismissed these claims due to significant differences in their tactics and motivations​.

Via The Register

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Analogue has announced that pre-orders for its reimagined Nintendo 64 console, the Analogue 3D, will open next week.

The company shared the news in a lengthy blog post where it shared even more details about the Analogue 3D, including its specifications, the first images of the system, and its price.

A black and white version of the Analogue 3D will be available to pre-order and both will be priced at $249.99 (around £192.33) Controllers, designed by 8bitdo, will be sold separately from the console and will cost $39.99 (around £30.99).

Pre-orders will open on October 21 at 8am PDT / 11am EST / 4pm BST. The system was originally slated for a 2024 launch, but Analogue has confirmed it will now launch early next year in Q1 2025.

The Analogue 3D is a modernized take on the N64 featuring 4K resolution that will upscale the console's classic games. Analogue calls it "the greatest multiplayer system of all time" and is 100 per cent compatible with every original N64 title ever made.

It's also region-free, features Bluetooth, dual-band Wifi, four original-style controller ports, and an SD card slot, and requires no emulation.

"Analogue 3D represents a milestone in video game preservation," Analogue said. "It’s not just a reimagining of the N64 - it’s the first fully compatible, hardware-accurate recreation, fully compatible with the entire N64 game library.

"After nearly four years of dedicated FPGA engineering, Analogue 3D overcomes the limitations of software emulation—no input lag, no graphic or audio inaccuracies, no timing or frame rate problems. This is the N64, perfected and true to its core."

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Despite the US’s best efforts to sanction chip exports to Chinese companies, Huawei is reportedly still accessing components through strategic partnerships.

Companies like Pengzinzu, SwaySure Technology, Qingdao Si’En and “potentially many others” are suspected of being part of a “clandestine network” of organizations supporting Huawei to maintain its access to restricted chips (via SCMP).

The concerns were raised by House China Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi in a recent letter addressed to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

Huawei is reportedly circumventing US chip sanctions

The US and many of its allies have already imposed significant restrictions on the sale of advanced chips and manufacturing equipment to China, including companies like Applied Materials and ASML Holding, however they have proven broadly unsuccessful.

The efforts, hoped to stifle China’s development of advanced semiconductors, which the US believes could benefit the nation’s military, have been hard to regulate. Chinese firms were previously observed accessing Nvidia’s A100 and H100 chips via cloud computing services such as AWS.

Huawei’s latest smartphone, powered by a seven-nanometer chip from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), represents a major advancement, triggering calls for stricter controls.

“We must continue in our efforts to deny Huawei, and similar firms, the ability to access US technology," wrote Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi.

Concerns have also been raised about delayed processes, which have allowed Chinese companies to stockpile advanced equipment.

On the other side, companies are worried export sanctions might significantly impact business. ASML says that China accounts for around one-fifth of its revenue (via Bloomberg).

Moreover, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning described the US as “overstretching the concept of national security, setting barriers and undermining normal cooperation between the two countries” at a Beijing press briefing.

The Commerce Department has acknowledged receipt of the letter and indicated that it would respond through the appropriate channels.

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