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Elden Ring will soon be more than just a hit video game. On Thursday, Bandai Namco and A24 announced a live-action Elden Ring film directed by Alex Garland.
Japanese developer FromSoftware released Elden Ring across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC in 2022, while a version for the Nintendo Switch 2 is set to be released this year. The action RPG became an instant hit, and puts you in the role of a Tarnished tasked with restoring the Elden Ring by defeating various challenging bosses throughout the Lands Between. The Elden Ring spinoff Nightreign is coming out on May 30th, 2025.
Garland is a writer, director, and producer best known for films like Ex Machina, 28 Days Later, and Dredd.
FromSoftware first hinted at the potential to expand Elden Ring “beyond the realm of games” in 2022. Last year, George R.R. Martin — the Game of Thrones creator who helped write the game — also said, “There is some talk about making a movie out of Elden Ring.” A publication called Nexus Point News first reported on the adaptation with A24 earlier this month, but pulled its original article and didn’t explain why.
From The Verge via this RSS feed
As YouTube prepares to air an exclusive NFL opening week game for free on September 5th, it’s hiring former Disney exec Justin Connolly. He’d most recently been running the streaming services and linear media networks, and will take over as YouTube’s new global head of media and sports, as first reported by Bloomberg, and confirmed by YouTube spokesperson Andrea Faville.
After spending more than 20 years at Disney and ESPN, he’ll be managing YouTube’s relationship with the media companies that distribute content on YouTube TV, as well as leading its live sports coverage. Connolly left Disney last week, just months before the launch of its standalone ESPN streaming service this fall.
Other streaming companies have also increased their focus on sports recently, with Amazon preparing to broadcast NBA games and Inside the NBA next season, Apple’s close relationship with MLB and MLS, and Netflix (something).
YouTube has become a growing force in live sports, with its live TV streaming service amassing more than 8 million subscribers and adding the NFL Sunday Ticket package in 2023. The platform will also. Earlier this year, YouTube revealed that it has become more popular on TVs than phones.
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Tech company CEOs aren’t just making their companies AI-first: this week, they’re using AI avatars to replace themselves in earnings calls.
Buy now, pay later company Klarna featured the AI version of CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski in an 83-second about its Q1 2025 results, as reported by TechCrunch. The video’s description says that his “AI avatar” is presenting the results, and the AI avatar kicks off the video by saying that “it’s me, or rather, my AI avatar.”
Klarna has already been vocal about how it uses AI in its business, with Siemiatkowski telling CNBC this month that the company shrunk its workforce in part as a result of its AI investments. This also isn’t even the first time the company has used an AI version of Siemiatkowski to share earnings.
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan also deployed an AI version of himself for the company’s Q1 2026 earnings call on Wednesday. “Today, I’m using our custom avatars for Zoom Clips with AI Companion to share my part of the earnings report,” Yuan’s avatar said in a video. “I’m proud to be among the first-ever CEOs to use an avatar in an earnings call.” In the top right corner of the video, you can see a message that says “created with Zoom AI Companion.”
The human Yuan showed up for the live Q&A portion of the call, though. “I truly love my AI-generated avatar,” he said while responding to the first question. “I think we are going to continue using that. I can tell you – I like that experience a lot.” Perhaps not surprising from the guy who wants “digital twins” to attend meetings on your behalf.
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In a pretty barebones press release accompanied by a couple of pictures and detailed specs, Ricoh surprise announced that its long-awaited GR IV camera will launch this fall. The GR IV will adhere closely to the design of the GR III from 2018, and it will continue to use an autofocusing 28mm-equivalent f/2.8 lens and only a rear LCD for composing photos and videos, with no electronic or optical viewfinder available.
The GR IV’s exterior looks very similar to the GR III / GR IIIx, with an oval-shaped shutter button, on / off switch and mode dial up top, and a smattering of rear controls to the right of its LCD. Its buttons look redesigned, removing the spinning dial from around its four-way directional pad. And its adjustment thumb wheel, labeled “ADJ,” looks like it may be a fully turning dial instead of just a back-and-forth toggle that moves left or right. (I may be wishcasting that last part, because I think the thumb toggle on the GR III is annoying and fiddly.)
What’s known for certain based on its spec list is that the GR IV retains the built-in ND filter of the GR III, but it slightly ups the resolution of its large APS-C sensor from 24 megapixels to 26.
It will also have a higher ISO range that reaches 204,800 at its maximum setting, and five-axis stabilization instead of three-axis stabilization. The GR IV’s lens may be the same focal length and maximum aperture as previous generations, but it’s a new seven-element design in a new arrangement utilizing an additional aspherical element that should yield better corrections. The upcoming camera will also have face and eye-detection for its autofocus tracking, and 53GB of usable built-in storage. Onboard storage is great, and it’s much more than the GR III’s 2GB, but the GR IV is also downsizing from full-size SD cards to microSD.
While there isn’t a price yet, Ricoh has confirmed the GR IV is expected to release in the autumn of 2025, with a variant featuring a Highlight Diffusion Filter (HDF) to come “after winter 2025.” The announcement also details that the GR III is scheduled to be discontinued in July, while the GR IIIx continues “for the time being.” The Ricoh GR cameras have carved out a niche among street photographers who value their super compact size and fairly affordable prices compared to a Fujifilm X100 or Leica Q. As cool and fun as I thought the just-announced Fujifilm X Half might be, the GR IV has instantly become my most anticipated camera of 2025.
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There is no shortage of first-person shooters out there, to the degree that some of them can start to blur together. Mouse: P.I. For Hire, however, has one of the most unique art styles I’ve ever seen in the genre. Think Cuphead, but with more explosive action — and way more mice to kill.
The monochromatic visuals, which are all hand-drawn, are coupled with a catchy jazz soundtrack. The game is a 1930s noir where you’ll be investigating a corrupt city full of crooks. The premise sounds serious until you notice the protagonist running around with an arsenal fit for a circus. Here’s a fun trailer:
You’ve got period staples like Tommy guns and sticks of dynamite right alongside a can of spinach and a finger gun. All of these weapons have special animations that make Mouse: P.I. look like a playable cartoon where every death is comical. Count me in.
There’s no set release date yet, but the game will be coming to all major modern platforms, including Nintendo Switch 2. The game was highlighted today as a part of Six One Indie, an hourlong indie showcase that packed 48 different titles from all sorts of genres, which you can check out here.
From Polygon via this RSS feed
To protect copyright holders, YouTube regularly removes, disables, or demonetizes videos that contain allegedly infringing content.
For years, little was known about the scope of these copyright claims. That changed three years ago when the streaming platform published its first-ever transparency report.
The report showed that roughly 99% of all copyright claims on YouTube are handled through the Content ID system. Since many claims are automated, without human intervention, access is restricted to a few thousand vetted rightsholders.
4,564 Users, 2.2 Billion Claims
Published this week, YouTube’s latest Transparency Report shows that the number of automated claims continues to rise. In 2024, the streaming platform processed over 2.2 billion claims, up from nearly 2 billion a year earlier.
YouTube reports that of the 7,703 rightsholders who currently have access to the system, 4,564 actively use it. That’s a relatively small number when compared to the 308,556 users who filed just over 3 million claims through the online takedown form.
YouTube’s 2024 copyright claims
The report reveals that 99.43% of all copyright actions taken on the platform throughout the year are processed by the Content ID system. These are mostly automated claims, but Content ID users also flagged content manually in 0.31% of cases.
This tiny percentage might not sound like much but, at this scale, it translates to approximately 6.9 million manual claims.
Disputed Claims
Despite the immense volume of claims, the number of disputed claims remains relatively low. Fewer than 1% of the over 2.2 billion Content ID claims were disputed by recipients in 2024. That’s relatively low, although one percent still equates to 22 million disputes.
Interestingly, manually generated claims were more than twice as likely to be disputed (1.13%) compared to those made via automated detection (0.54%). This suggests that human intervention triggers more complaints.
Challenges against Copyright claims are often filed for good reason. According to the report, over 65% of Content ID claim disputes in 2024 were resolved in favor of the uploader. This typically happens because claimants voluntarily released their claim or did not respond in time.
A “$12 Billion” Money Machine
While Content ID can be a major source of frustration for YouTubers, it has become a goldmine for rightsholders. Instead of removing infringing videos, most rightsholders prefer to monetize them through YouTube instead.
Rightsholders chose to monetize over 90% of all Content ID claims in 2024. As a result, the advertising revenue from these videos is shared with the claiming parties instead of the uploaders.
This monetization strategy has proven to generate substantial revenues for claimants. Since inception, YouTube has paid out $12 billion in revenue for copyright claims originating from the Content ID system.
Access Restricted
The numbers reported above only apply to the Content ID system. While it’s responsible for nearly all copyright actions on YouTube, those who are not part of the system must use other options, such as the webform or the Copyright Match Tool.
Many other rightsholders would like access to Content ID, but YouTube intentionally limits participation to a few thousand vetted users.
One of the reasons YouTube limits use of Content ID to a relatively small group, is the potential for damage. An inaccurate or abusive reference file can result in thousands of false claims.
“In Content ID the impact is multiplied due to its automated nature; one bad reference file can impact hundreds or even thousands of videos across the site,” YouTube writes.
“In one highly publicized instance, a news channel uploaded public domain footage from NASA of a Mars rover and ended up making inappropriate claims against all other news channels and creators using the same footage, even against the NASA channel itself.”
This doesn’t mean that Content ID is perfect, of course. While there have been plenty of mistakes and even outright criminal abuse in the past, YouTube hopes that with the current setup, it has found a balance most rightsholders and content creators can live with. Whether that’s indeed the case, depends on who you ask.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
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Valve has been building up to this for months, first in preview, then beta, and now finally in a full stable release: a new version of SteamOS that brings brand new features to the Steam Deck and supports third-party handhelds like Lenovo’s Legion Go and Asus’s ROG Ally series.
SteamOS 3.7.8 is the first stable release to add official support for the Lenovo Legion Go S, and the first to offer an official “recovery” image that lets you install SteamOS on other AMD handhelds like the ROG Ally and original Legion Go, as Valve promised us in January of this year.
Until now, those who wanted to try SteamOS on those Windows handhelds could shoehorn the Steam Deck’s original recovery image onto their device, or opt for a similar experience like Bazzite. But now, Valve explicitly provides instructions for getting that image working on a Legion Go or ROG Ally, even as it warns that “support for all devices that is not officially ‘Powered by SteamOS’ is not final.”
But even if you don’t care about rival handhelds, SteamOS 3.7 has a lot of improvements for the Steam Deck. I’ve been asking Valve to let me use my Bluetooth earbuds’ microphone since launch, and it’s finally happening in desktop mode (sadly not gaming mode yet) thanks to HFP/HSP profiles. You can turn on your Steam Deck LCD from across the room with a Bluetooth controller, a feature previously exclusive to the OLED model, which comes in handy when you’re docked to a TV.
Speaking of leaving it docked, you can now set a Battery Charge Limit to 80 percent for longevity’s sake if your handheld is always plugged in, you can frame-limit variable refresh rate displays, and control the P-state frequency of certain AMD CPUs.
It’s all underpinned by new versions of Arch Linux, new Mesa graphics drivers, a much newer version of the Plasma desktop mode, and more. Here’s the full SteamOS 3.7.8 changelog.
And, an updated SteamOS FAQ seems to suggest that Valve is ready to expand SteamOS beyond Lenovo and the Steam Deck. “We’re currently working with select partners on officially licensed Powered by SteamOS devices. Please reach out to us at poweredbysteamos@valvesoftware.com for more information about licensing SteamOS for your device,“ one answer reads.
But the industry is still waiting for Valve’s other shoe(s) to drop. Rumors are still heating up that we’re close to the launch of Valve’s wireless VR headset “Deckard,” and that it might be pointing the way towards a SteamOS-powered living room console too. Valve has been moving slow and steady, but it seems like a master plan for Steam Machines could finally be coming into focus.
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has officially dropped its case against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The FTC filed an order to dismiss its complaint on Thursday, just days after it lost an appeal for a preliminary injunction to prevent Microsoft from finalizing its acquisition.
“The Commission has determined that the public interest is best served by dismissing the administrative litigation in this case,“ says the FTC in its filing. The filing brings an end to the FTC’s fight to try and block Microsoft’s $68.7 billion deal, nearly two years after it originally sought a temporary restraining order and injunction from a US federal district court.
Today’s decision is a victory for players across the country and for common sense in Washington, D.C. We are grateful to the FTC for today’s announcement. https://t.co/nnmUI76q0l pic.twitter.com/KgLxhZppx3
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) May 22, 2025
Microsoft won its FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard in July 2023, and the deal was completed several months later, in October, nearly two years after the acquisition was first announced. The FTC had appealed the ruling nearly two years ago, but an appeals court panel affirmed the denial of an injunction earlier this month.
“Today’s decision is a victory for players across the country and for common sense in Washington, DC,” says Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith. “We are grateful to the FTC for today’s announcement.”
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Sciel is a true heavy-hitter in your Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 party, offering a fairly straightforward way to make number go up compared to her counterparts.
While, yes, Lune and Maelle can dish out serious damage, both require some preparatory work to achieve that output, whereas Sciel only requires you to be aware of her comparatively more streamlined Twilight mechanic.
If you’re interested in the best of the best for your scythe-wielding teacher, this Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 guide will break down the best Sciel build, including her best weapons, attributes, Pictos, and skills to quickly dispatch foes.
Best Sciel build in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Sciel works as a support unit and DPS, but we believe her talents are much better in a damage-dealing role. She’s at her best as the team’s primary source of damage.
With Sciel, you want to apply Foretell stacks on enemies and then trigger those stacks with the appropriate skills. The best skills for Sciel will allow her to mark enemies as well for her other teammates to trigger, so she works well with at least one other dedicated damage dealer — preferably Maelle.
The best Sciel build in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is:
Attributes: Defense and LuckWeapon: CharnonSkills: Twilight Dance, Sealed Fate, Final Path, Delaying Slash, Fortune’s Fury, and Plentiful HarvestPictos: Immaculate, Glass Cannon, and Inverted Affinity
Sciel’s best attributes by far are Agility and Luck. Her skills and playstyle are meant for someone who can attack often and deal critical hits, too. What’s more, in the game’s opening act, the best weapon for Sciel, the Scielson, scales well with the stats mentioned above. As you progress, you’ll be swapping weapons to the Rangeson and Charnon, respectively, but once you reach the endgame and the Charnon, you’ll have access to guaranteed critical hits. This allows you to Recoat her attributes away from Agility and put them into Defense instead.
Below, we’ll explain in more detail why this is the best Sciel build in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Best attributes for Sciel
Your attribute spread for Sciel will look different depending on how far in the game you are. Make sure to save a Recoat for the late game so you can prioritize the perfect attributes for the final stretch.
In Act 1, prioritize Agility and Luck for the extra turns and crit chance. (You can also put points into Vitality to give Sciel some survivability in the early game.)
In Act 2, the best weapon for Sciel becomes the Rangeson, so her attributes should reflect that. You should alter your strategy and prioritize Agility and Defense.
Once you get Charnon, you’ll want to Recoat your attributes again, only this time prioritizing Defense and Luck for that weapon’s scaling.
Best weapon for Sciel
The best weapon for Sciel is the Charnon.
This missable weapon can be found by defeating the Gestral Merchant, Grour, at Renoir’s Drafts. To find this merchant, you must have Esquie’s diving ability, which you get when he reaches relationship level 6. Defeating Grour will allow you to purchase the Charnon. Hopefully you’ve been saving your cash — it costs a whopping 89,884 chroma!
The weapon’s strength comes from its Level 4 passive, granting guaranteed critical hits when Sciel is in Twilight. Sciel’s abilities fit into one or two categories, Sun and Moon. Using a skill will generate a card of the assigned typing. Once you’ve generated both a Sun card and a Moon card, Sciel will enter Twilight, offering increased damage and double the amount of Foretell you can stack on an enemy.
The goal is to ensure Sciel spends as much time in Twilight as often as possible, so it only makes sense you’d want a weapon that empowers the stance to new heights.
Best Pictos and Luminas for Sciel
You will need some time to build up the best Pictos and Luminas for Sciel. The best Pictos in her case are Immaculate, Glass Canon, and Inverted Affinity. Below are the detailed descriptions of what these Pictos do and the stats they grant bonuses to.
Immaculate — Speed and Crit Rate. 30% increased damage until a hit is received.Glass Cannon — Speed. Deal 25% more damage, but take 25% more damage.Inverted Affinity — Health and Crit Rate. Apply Inverted on self for three turns on battle start.50% increased damage while Inverted.
These Pictos are pretty much the “One Shot Setup.” They provide Sciel and other DPS characters the scaling and damage necessary to dictate the battlefield. However, the trade-off of these Pictos is low survivability. If you’re not a God at Expedition 33’s defense mechanisms, maybe you should practice them as you make your way through the game and to Sciel’s perfect build. You can also offset this weakness a bit with the right Luminas.
We’d recommend using the following Luminas, depending on how many Lumina Points you have.
Augmented Counter IAuto RushCritical BurnDead Energy IIRouletteEmpowering ParryEnergising JumpEnergising ParryEnergising Start IIFirst StrikeTaintedFull StrengthPainted PowerRecoveryCheaterSolidifyingSweet KillWarming Up
Best skills for Sciel
The best skills for Sciel are the following:
Twilight Dance: Deals extreme single target Dark damage. 4 hits. During Twilight, extends Twilight duration by 1 turn. Consumes all Foretell to deal additional damage.Sealed Fate: Deals high single target damage. 5-7 hits. Uses Weapon’s element. Each hit can consume 1 Foretell to deal 200% more damage. Critical Hits don’t remove the Foretell but still gets the damage increase.Final Path: Deals extreme single target Dark damage and applies 10 Foretell. 1 hit. Can Break.Delaying Slash: Deals medium single target damage. 2 hits. Uses weapon’s element. Consumes Foretell to increase damage and delay target’s turn.Fortune’s Fury: Targeted ally deals double damage for one turn.Plentiful Harvest: Deals medium single target Physical damage. 2 hits. Consumes all Foretell on a target and gives 1 AP to a party member for each Foretell consumed.
These moves allow you to properly set Sciel or your chosen sub DPS unit for success. Fortune’s Fury will be your primary skill. Combined with a skill like Marking Card, it is perfect for unleashing considerable damage on the game’s more challenging encounters. Final Path and Twilight Dance are your primary sources of damage if you prefer another weapon. However, with the Charnon and its awesome critical hit passive, you can’t go wrong with Sealed Fate.
From Polygon via this RSS feed
Blue Prince’s PlayStation 5 save file bug is finally over thanks to a new patch Raw Fury released Thursday. Tonda Ros*,* directorand creator of Blue Prince, released patch notes for update 1.04.5, directly addressing a stubborn bug, which, according to the game’s Reddit community, appears around day 100 and prevents players from saving any progress.
The patch notes described the glitch as the “PlayStation 5 save rollback issue” and explained that it was “caused by a duplication of save data causing new save information to time out and not be saved.”
With the new fix, Ros alerted players they shouldn’t have any “issues progressing and saving the game past the point where the bug was initially encountered.” Unfortunately, any progress that wasn’t saved due to the bug won’t be recovered, and players will return to Mount Holly on the day the bug first appeared.
The patch also addresses bugs that cause the player to lose steps, preventing players from entering the highest rank, and more spoiler-heavy issues.
Nonetheless, the director asserted that a definitive version of the game will be achieved through the forthcoming 1.10 patch.
Patch 1.10 is set to include changes and additions such as “an overhyped arcade game, a curious house cat, accessibility features like color assist mode, controls remapping, cursor size/opacity settings, and widescreen support. Some UI/UX improvements, more variations for end-of-day manor descriptions and accompanying house illustrations, HUD display customization, final room/item balancing, and the addition of a handful of extra cinematics that I am still working on (the unlockable challenge modes actually have their own unique openings and endings!)”
Hopefully, there won’t be any more save file glitches as players head from patch 1.04.5 to 1.10. Happy drafting!
Blue Prince is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
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