Google’s Stadia Problem? A Video Game Unit That’s Not Googley Enough

The tech giant likes to test and tweak. Stadia promised to change the industry and failed to deliver. From a report: Google’s streaming video game service Stadia had ambitious plans to disrupt the gaming industry, which is dominated by consoles. The tech giant had planned to pack Stadia with original content, announcing two years ago that it was hiring hundreds of…

Lawmaker Proposing ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Ban Says Video Game Contributes To Carjackings

Koreantoast writes: With the number of carjackings more than doubling in the city of Chicago during 2020, one lawmaker knows who to blame: the video game “Grand Theft Auto.” According to Chicago ABC 7, Democratic State Representative Marcus Williams believes the video game is causing the rise in carjackings, stating that “Grand Theft Auto’ and other violent video games are getting…

The Nintendo Switch Can Now Run Android 10, Unofficially

Thanks to the hard work of the SwitchRoot team, it’s now possible to enjoy an Android 10-based LineageOS 17.1 port on your Nintendo Switch console. XDA Developers reports: The Android 10 release is based on the LineageOS 17.1 build for the NVIDIA SHIELD TV and brings many improvements over the previous release, including a much-needed deep sleep mode so the OS…

As ‘Goldeneye 007’ Remaster Finally Leaks Online, Its Original Designer Reacts

Long ago there were plans for a remastered Xbox 360 version of the Nintendo 64 game “Goldeneye 007” — but they never materialized, and that game became a lost legend. But then Monday Ars Technica interviewed longtime Spanish game streamer Graslu00, who had somehow uploaded a two-hour video demo-ing the lost game. The files came with a peculiar note: “Never say…

Sony Says It Sold 4.5 Million PlayStation 5 Consoles Last Year and Took a Loss on Sales

Sony shipped more than 4.5 million PlayStation 5s from the console’s Nov. 12 launch to the end of the year, but it took a loss on those sales because the PS5’s “strategic price point” is lower than what it cost to manufacture it. From a report: The disclosure was part of Sony’s quarterly report to investors, delivered in Japan earlier today….

‘We Messed Up’. Microsoft Rescinds Xbox Live Gold Price Hike

“We messed up today,” the Xbox Live Gold team wrote late Friday night, “and you were right to let us know.” Their blog post’s new title? “No Changes to Xbox Live Gold Pricing, Free-to-Play Games to be Unlocked.” Forbes reports: It has been a very strange few days for Microsoft and Xbox fans. On Friday, Microsoft announced that for effectively no…

Xbox’s ‘Instant On’ Feature Could Consume 4 Billion kWh By 2025

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The “instant on” feature that’s activated by default on new Xbox Series S/X consoles could suck up a total of 4 billion kWh — the equivalent of a year’s operation for a large power plant — from US owners alone through 2025. That’s according to a preliminary report released this week from…

Citrix Devices Are Being Abused as DDoS Attack Vectors

Threat actors have discovered a way to bounce and amplify junk web traffic against Citrix ADC networking equipment to launch DDoS attacks. From a report: While details about the attackers are still unknown, victims of these Citrix-based DDoS attacks have mostly included online gaming services, such as Steam and Xbox, sources have told ZDNet earlier today. The first of these attacks…

Cyberpunk Maker CD Projekt Sued by Investor Over Botched Launch

CD Projekt SA, the Polish video-game publisher of Cyberpunk 2077, was sued by an investor who claims the company misled him about the potential of the error-plagued game whose botched release this month caused shares to dive. From a report: Andrew Trampe sued Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles and seeks to represent other investors who bought the company’s securities….

Google Stadia Arrives on iOS

Google’s cloud gaming service now supports the iPhone and iPad. As expected, the company is using a web app to access the service. From a report: Google also says that you need to update to iOS 14.3, the latest iOS update that was released earlier this week. If you want to try it out with a free or paid Stadia account,…