Blizzard may have canceled a ‘World of Warcraft’ mobile spinoff

Arclight Rumble wasn’t going to be the only upcoming Warcraft mobile game, according to a report. Bloombergsources claim Blizzard and NetEase have canceled a World of Warcraft spinoff mobile title that had been in development for three years. Nicknamed Neptune, it would have been a massively multiplayer game set in a different era of the fantasy universe. It wouldn’t simply have been a WoW phone port, to put it another way.

While the exact reasons for the cancelation weren’t mentioned, one of the insiders said Blizzard and NetEase “disagreed over terms” and ultimately decided to scrap the unannounced game. NetEase supposedly had over 100 developers attached to the project. The two were rumored to have previously canceled another Warcraft mobile release, a Pokémon Go-style augmented reality game, after four years of effort.

Spokespeople from both companies declined to comment. If the rumor is accurate, it suggests Blizzard is struggling to adapt to the rise of mobile gaming. While Diablo Immortal appears to be a success and is joining the well-established Hearthstone, the developers will still have sunk massive resources into other games that never reached players.

There are strong incentives to take these risks, however. Mobile games can be highly lucrative, particularly in countries like China — Genshin Impact has pulled in $3 billion since release, according to Sensor Tower estimates. A hit could easily boost Blizzard’s bottom line, not to mention spur demand for its existing computer- and console-bound games.

「何が問題かわからない」で炎上の福田達夫議員　焦って出した釈明文書の評判が悪い理由 | デイリー新潮

自民党の福田達夫総務会長（55）が“炎上”している。旧統一教会（現・世界平和統一家庭連合。以下「統一教会」）を巡る発言で、大ヒンシュクを買ったのが原因だ。 ＊＊＊ 祖父・赳夫は、安倍元首相・昭恵夫人の結婚の媒酌も務めた【「福田家3代」の貴重写真を見る】 福田氏は7月29日の記者会見で、統一教会と自民党は“密…

Facebook Live Shopping is coming to an end in favor of Reels

Facebook Live Shopping events appear to be another casualty of Meta’s shift to short-form video. According to an announcement on the company’s website, live shopping events on Facebook will retire on October 1st. The little-known feature let Facebook B…

Your favorite podcast might be making thousands for inviting guests

That big-name guest might not have appeared on your favorite podcast out of the kindness of their heart. Bloomberg has learned that podcast guests are routinely paying big money to appear on popular podcasts. Guestio, a marketplace for these deals, has seen huge transactions in the past six months. Four podcasters made $20,000 from charging for appearances, while one made $50,000. The most profitable show, Entrepreneurs on Fire, regularly charges $3,500 for guest spots and has sometimes taken a cut of product sales.

It’s not clear how widespread this activity is. However, Bloomberg interviews suggest pay-to-appear systems are popular for business, cryptocurrency and wellness podcasts. Hosts like Entrepreneurs on Fire‘s John Lee Dumas see appearance fees as filters. Guests will be well-prepared if they’re making an “investment” in airtime, the creator said.

However, there are ethical and legal concerns surrounding the practice. This could be considered a modern take on payola, or the pay-for-play schemes used to boost songs on the radio — is a guest appearing because they’re relevant, or just because they’re willing to pay? And while disclosures are mandatory for those radio plays, the situation isn’t so clear with podcasts. While many shows on Guestio have disclosures, not all of them properly reveal when an interview subject is paying to show up.

That could pose a problem in the future. A Federal Trade Commission spokesperson said that there’s deception whenever consumers are mislead about the nature of advertising and promotional messages, regardless of the media format. The regulator didn’t say if it would crack down on podcasters who improperly disclose paying guests, but the message could serve as a warning to show hosts.

JD on Twitter: “台湾のセブンイレブンのテレビ画面に「ペローシ、台湾から出て行け」というメッセージが。 複数の店で同時に発生している模様。中国のハッキングと推測されていますが、こんなことができるとは。。 https://t.co/Ynb0AZ9Sbn https://t.co/jYKaKkl1sr”

台湾のセブンイレブンのテレビ画面に「ペローシ、台湾から出て行け」というメッセージが。 複数の店で同時に発生している模様。中国のハッキングと推測されていますが、こんなことができるとは。。 https://t.co/Ynb0AZ9Sbn https://t.co/jYKaKkl1sr

Interactive musical series ‘We are OFK’ hits PlayStation, Switch and PC on August 18th

Back at the 2020 edition of The Game Awards, we learned about We Are OFK, a new project from Hyper Light Drifter co-designer Teddy Dief and their collaborators at Team OFK. It was supposed to debut in spring 2021 but, as has been the way of things for the last few years, it was delayed. Now, We Are OFK finally has a release date. Or, more accurately, release dates, since it’s an episodic series. The first two episodes will hit Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PS5, Steam and Epic Games Store on August 18th. The remaining three episodes will arrive on a weekly basis.

We Are OFK follows a virtual four-piece indie band called, strangely enough, OFK. It’s billed as an interactive musical biopic that OFK is making about its own origins. As Dief wrote on the PlayStation Blog, “What would it look like to create virtual musicians who watch performances of [pop stars] on their laptops in bed, and know they’re probably never going to play a stadium concert? We wanted to tell that story — how hard it is to make music, to write even one song, to record another video to post online and hope someone leaves a nice comment.”

The game costs $20. Along with each episode, OFK and Sony Music Masterworks will release a new single. A vinyl package of the singles will be available from iam8bit for $32. A limited-edition physical version of We Are OFK is available to pre-order for PS5 and Switch too. You can also pre-save the group’s first EP.

Here’s what embedded tweets could look like after they’re edited

One of Twitter’s most anticipated features — the edit button — is still in development. But thanks to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong, we have an idea of how edits to embedded tweets on a website will carry over. If a tweet gets edited after it is emb…