We’ve noted a few times that there are two major reasons that the U.S. still hasn’t passed even a basic privacy law for the internet era or regulated data brokers. One, the government is corrupt, and has repeatedly buckled to the lobbying of multiple industries that find the current dysfunction very profitable. Two, the government loves the current lax system because it allows them to dodge warrants.

But with scandals only feeding annoyance at the legislative failure, the push is only growing for some kind of basic protections. Not surprisingly, states have filled the vacuum, often poorly. Most notably California, which has already introduced several confusing and problematic bills.

Now California is eyeing SB 362, known as the Delete Act, would require companies to delete all data on individuals upon request — including data purchased or acquired from third parties. Not too surprisingly ad firms and data brokers don’t much like this, so they’ve started using the data they’ve over-collected to run targeted ad campaigns aimed at Californians in a bid to create opposition to the law.

...

Release thread for Immortals of Aveum!

Description

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BE THE BATTLEMAGE
Join the Order of the Immortals, the champion protectors of Lucium, and become Jak, an elite Triarch Magnus. Unleash magic spells with deadly skill, and decimate legions of enemies in a game that defies FPS conventions.

MASTER YOUR MAGIC
Experience fast, fluid, first-person, spell-based combat that’s easy to learn and satisfying to master. In Immortals of Aveum, magic is at the core of both offense and defense. Creatively leverage all three forces of magic and be rewarded for chained attacks and well-timed counters.

UNLEASH YOUR ARSENAL OF SPELLS
Unlock and upgrade more than 25 Spells and 80 Talents. Discover, upgrade, and craft hundreds of pieces of magical gear. Then synergize your playstyle across all three forces of magic and become Aveum’s most powerful Triarch Magnus.

SAVE A WORLD ON THE EDGE OF ABYSS
An Unforeseen, Jak, is thrust into the Everwar – an endless struggle between Lucium and Rasharn over the control of magic. Jak and Lucium’s elite Immortals must race to uncover the mysteries of Aveum’s past, if there’s any hope of saving its future.

(From the official webpage)

Details

Developer: Ascendant Studios
Publisher: EA
Price:

• Standard: 59.99 USD
• Deluxe: 69.99 USD

Links

• Website | Official YouTube | Launch Trailer

Stores

Steam | Epic | EA Store

Reviews

• IGN - 8

• Game Informer - 8

• Wccftech - 6.5

• Gamespot - 5

• VG247 - 3/5

• Eurogamer - 2/5

• Rock Paper Shotgun

• Polygon

Requirements

Minimum - (1080p/60fps)

**OS: 64 bit Windows 10
Processor(AMD): AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Processor(Intel): Intel Core i7-9700
Memory: 16GB (Dual-channel)
Graphics Card(AMD): Radeon RX 5700XT (8GB)
Graphics Card(Nvidia): NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super (VRAM 8 GB)
Direct X: 12
Online Connection Requirements: Yes
Hard Drive Space: 110 GB SSD

Recommended (1440p/60fps)

OS: 64 bit Windows 10
Processor(AMD): AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
Processor(Intel): Intel Core i7-12700
Memory: 16GB (Dual-channel)
Graphics Card(AMD): AMD Radeon RX 6800XT (VRAM 16 GB)
Graphics Card(Nvidia): NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080Ti (VRAM 12 GB)
Direct X: 12
Online Connection Requirements: Yes
Hard Drive Space: 110 GB SSD

A fan made lore video.

Source

This guide will provide everything you need to know to watch gamescom and IGN’s biggest events within, including when each event starts, a list of places you can stream them live with us, and what you can expect to see at gamescom 2023.

...

Tuesday, August 22

gamescom Studio Opening Night Live (with IGN Post-Show) - 11am PT/2pm ET/8pm CEST

Geoff Keighley will again host Opening Night Live to kick off gamescom 2023. The opening show will feature world premieres and some of the most exciting announcements from gameplay and trailer reveals. Geoff Keighley’s promising looks at:

• Alan Wake 2
• Assassin’s Creed Mirage
• Black Myth Wukong
• Call of Duty: MW3
• Crimson Desert
• Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
• Lords of the Fallen
• Mortal Kombat 1
• Sonic Superstars
• Zenless Zone Zero

Our Exclusive Post-Show will have follow-ups, extended looks, and more including brand new trailers and other exclusives.

Among the prolific world of Baldur's Gate 3 mods, a new one has caught our attention. Created by Nexus Mods user Liareth, the mod 'Bags Bags Bags' seeks to improve the game's not-so-great inventory management by adding 21 new containers, several of which support auto stacking of items.

These containers are added to the Nautiloid tutorial chest, where players can get them for free. If they miss them there or they are already beyond the starting point, they can be purchased by visiting Arron (a vendor NPC available at Druid Grove in Act 1) and Danthelon (another vendor NPC available at Wyrm's Crossing, just outside Baldur's Gate, in Act 3).

I don't know anything about VTubers, aside from the fact they're virtual… YouTubers...? What I do know, is there's a Vampire Survivors-like called HoloCure: Save The Fans that's entirely fan made, entirely free, and revolves around Hololive, a VTuber agency replete with catgirls. I am taken aback by how good it is.

Discover the host of additions and improvements arriving with the free Update 39 base-game patch. The Update 39 base-game patch is now live on PC/Mac and introduces a series of long-awaited improvements and additions to The Elder Scrolls Online, completely free of charge for all existing ESO players.

With its latest AMD AGESA 1.0.0.7c BIOS firmware, MSI is introducing a new memory tuning setting known as "High-Efficiency" mode. This new feature supports pre-configured memory profiles for a set of popular modules on the market, offering higher bandwidth and lower latency through a set of optimizations. These optimizations mainly come from fine-tuned DDR5 DRAM timings and there are four "Memory Timing Presets" that are available for users to try out at any given time including Tightest, Tighter, Balance & Relax.

Intel Graphics figured out a unique way to step up performance of its entry-level Arc A380 graphics cards. While other companies prevent BIOS updates and generally discourage overclocking; Intel has given the A380 a free vendor overclock. With the latest Arc GPU Graphics drivers 101.4644 WHQL, Intel has increased the base frequency of the GPU. The driver installer includes a firmware update besides the driver. The A380 has a reference base clock of 2000 MHz, which boosts up to 2050 MHz. With the latest 101.4644 drivers (the new firmware), the base frequency has been increased to 2150 MHz.

Today, Samsung announced a partnership with NEXON to make The First Descendant the first title compatible with the HDR10+ GAMING standard starting with the Open Beta scheduled for September 19th. Seokwoo Jason Yong, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics, said in a statement.

NVIDIA already released an HDR10+ GAMING compatible driver last November, so GeForce owners are set. AMD and Intel still have to release a compatible driver. The new standard should also be compatible with consoles, but it is unclear whether The First Descendant will support it across all platforms.

CD Projekt Red is hosting a gameplay livestream for Cyberpunk 2077 later this week, where it will share more details about its next update.

During the stream, which will be hosted by CDPR's community managers over on Twitch, the Cyberpunk 2077 team will "discuss several features" that players can expect to see added to the game when this update goes live.

In addition, the developer will also share more about its Idris Elba-fronted Phantom Liberty expansion.

Signups for the latest closed beta are now open.

You have to give credit to Ubisoft for persistence: Another developer might've scuttled Skull and Bones ages ago, but Yves Guillemot and co. keep blowing into its sails, trying to propel it forward, and so it is that another Skull and Bones closed beta is coming next week.

For those just tuning in, Skull and Bones was announced in June 2017 as an open-world game of high-seas piracy, based on the seafaring bits of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, which came out in 2013. It was supposed to be out in 2018, but multiple delays have kept it from setting sail. In 2022 it looked like we were really and truly going to finally get our hands on it, but after a brief period of heady hope, a long-awaited gameplay reveal failed to impress, and just a couple months before the slated launch in November 2022, it was delayed again. And then, for good measure, again.