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There have been murmurings for some time that Pocketpair was planning to bring Palworld, one of the biggest games of the year, to PlayStation 5. However, it was a bit of a surprise to find out during Sony’s State of Play stream that the action-adventure game is available for the console today.

Palworld (which is often described as “Pokémon with guns”) landed on Xbox and PC in Early Access in January and was an immediate hit, selling over a million copies in just eight hours. Within a month, it had reached more than 25 million players. According to Microsoft, it had the biggest ever debut for a third-party title on Game Pass. 

However, it quickly emerged that The Pokémon Company was investigating Palworld. Fast forward eight months, and the company and Nintendo filed suit against Pocketpair. 

“This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights,” Nintendo said after filing the suit last week. Pocketpair’s CEO said the game “cleared legal reviews” and the studio said it would “begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement.”

So it’s not exactly ideal timing for Palworld to land on PS5. But hey, if you’re willing to buy a game that could potentially be forced to shut down in a few months or years due to a lawsuit, you can now do that on your PlayStation.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/palworld-suddenly-arrives-on-ps5-224601245.html?src=rss

Charming 3D platformer Astro Bot just released earlier this month and the game is already getting a content update. Later this fall, the game is adding a free add-on of five levels designed specifically for speedrunning. The news kicked off Sony’s September State of Play showcase. Check out the teaser above for all the cuteness to come.

Inside the new levels, Team Asobi is also adding ten new robot pals to be rescued. These include bots designed after the futuristic armies of Helldivers II and Eve from Stellar Blade. The bots are a fun wink and nod to the PlayStation fandom, with familiar franchise stars alongside deeper cuts from the console’s history.

Basically, if you haven’t already gotten on the Astro Bot hype train, now is the time.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/astro-bot-is-getting-a-free-update-that-adds-speedrunning-levels-224234066.html?src=rss

Lego Horizon Adventures is one of a very few first-party games that Sony is releasing this year, and now we have a release date, thanks to the State of Play the company aired on Tuesday. The kid-friendly spin on the Horizon series is coming to PlayStation 5, PC and Switch on November 14.

The soonish release date isn’t a huge shock, since the game was already lined up for a holiday 2024 slot. However, Sony jumped the gun by accidentally revealing the arrival date on the PlayStation website’s a few weeks back. Whoops!

We had the chance to try out Lego Horizon Adventures at Summer Game Fest in June and came away with positive impressions. It’s generally faithful to the combat of the mainline Horizon games, with Aloy sneaking around for optimal angles from which to attack enemies and using her Focus to find weak spots on giant dinosaur-like machines. However, that’s aligned with the kind of offbeat humor you’ll find in many other Lego games rather than the broadly stoic seriousness of Horizon Forbidden West. Local and online co-op will also be available for the first time in a Horizon game.

This is a chance for Sony to bring the series to a whole new audience. Until now, the Horizon series has only been available on PlayStation consoles and PC (and PS VR2 in the case of Horizon Call of the Mountain). This could also be a bit of a test run for Sony to see if some of its older games might find new digs, and many more players, on Nintendo systems.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/lego-horizon-adventures-hits-ps5-pc-and-switch-on-november-14-223756234.html?src=rss

A US district court judge sentenced Caroline Ellison, the former advisor and ex-girlfriend to the convicted crypto fraudster and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, to two years in prison.

The New York Times reported Ellison’s sentence for her role in the $8 billion in fraud committed by the FTX crypto exchange that sent Bankman-Fried to federal prison for 25 years back in March. Ellison will also have to serve three years of supervised release once she’s finished her prison sentence.

Ellison pled guilty at the end of 2022 to seven counts of fraud just as Bankman-Fried was being extradited to the US from the Bahamas. US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director of Enforcement Sanjay Wadhwa said following Ellison’s plea that she and Wang “were active participants in a scheme to conceal material information from FTX investors.”

Ellison was also the former chief executive officer of FTX’s sister company Alameda Research. Prosecutors said she diverted FTX customers’ funds onto Alameda’s books to hide risks from their clients. Ellison testified against Bankman-Fried, making her a key witness in his criminal fraud trial.

Prosecutors also got Bankman-Friend’s house arrest and bail revoked when a judge determined the FTX founder tried to hinder Ellison’s testimony last year. Bankman-Fried tried to message FTX’s general counsel on Signal and email in 2023 to influence Ellison’s testimony who was only identified as “Witness-1.”

Nine months later, Bankman-Fried showed a New York Times reporter personal writings from Ellison that prosecutors said were an attempt to damage her reputation especially amongst prospective jurors. The judge agreed both instances merited Bankman-Fried’s arrest and jailing while he awaited trial. Bankman-Fried is currently serving his 25-year sentence in a federal prison in Brooklyn awaiting appeal for his conviction.

Ellison issued a statement before her sentence apologizing for her crimes to the people she and her former firm defrauded. Prosecutors did not issue a recommended sentence and characterized her cooperation with investigators as “exemplary” in a memo to the judge.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think of the people I hurt,” Ellison said in court. “I am deeply ashamed of what I have done.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/ftx-advisor-and-alameda-ceo-caroline-ellison-gets-two-years-in-prison-214828333.html?src=rss

SAG-AFTRA has called a strike against the video game League of Legends. Under this action, any union voice actors must cease working on the popular MOBA from Riot Games. The union said it has also filed a charge of unfair labor practice against Formosa Interactive, which provides voiceover services for League, with the National Labor Relations Board.

Formosa Interactive was one of several high-profile video game companies named in a strike by voice acting talent earlier this year. SAG-AFTRA is working to negotiate with those developers for protections against AI replicas of its members, including those who perform in games.

Today, the union alleged that Formosa attempted to “cancel” a game that was included in the strike. “When they were told that was not possible, they secretly transferred the game to a shell company and sent out casting notices for “non-union” talent only,” according to the press statement. “SAG-AFTRA charges that these serious actions are egregious violations of core tenets of labor law – that employers cannot interfere with performers’ rights to form or join a union and they cannot discriminate against union performers.”

League of Legends is just one of the titles where Formosa Interactive provides services. In addition to voiceover work, Formosa Interactive also offers services such as facial capture, sound design and mixing. It has credits on games including God of War Ragnarok, Apex Legends, Genshin Impact, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Riot Games has issued the following statement about the strike: “League of Legends has nothing to do with the complaint mentioned in SAG-AFTRA’s press release. We want to be clear: Since becoming a union project five years ago, League of Legends has only asked Formosa to engage with Union performers in the US and has never once suggested doing otherwise. In addition, we’ve never asked Formosa to cancel a game that we’ve registered. All of the allegations in SAG-AFTRA’s press release relating to canceling a game or hiring non-union talent relate to a non-Riot game, and have nothing to do with League or any of our games.”

Update, September 24, 2024, 5:47PM ET: Updated to include statement from Riot Games.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/sag-aftra-strikes-against-league-of-legends-over-voiceover-company-actions-212839780.html?src=rss

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa. The lawsuit alleges that the financial firm holds a monopoly over debit network markets allowing it to charge banks and markets with exorbitant fees that get passed onto consumers and keep rival companies like PayPal and Square from competing on their level.

Bloomberg first reported on Monday that the DOJ planned to file an antitrust suit against Visa following a multiyear investigation into Visa’s business practices starting in 2020. Visa attempted to acquire the fintech startup Plaid with a $5.3 billion bid but the DOJ filed a lawsuit blocking the deal claiming the acquisition would eliminate a competitive threat that challenged Visa’s powerful control of debit markets.

Visa dropped the bid a year later to avoid any further legal entanglements but the DOJ continued investigating Visa’s business practices.

The DOJ alleges in its latest lawsuit that Visa’s “web of exclusionary agreements” with banks and businesses helped strengthen its market dominance and “smother” any potential competitors. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that Visa “unlawfully amassed the power to extract fees that far exceed what it could charge in a competitive market.

“Merchants and banks pass along those costs to customers, either by raising prices or reducing quality or service,” the statement reads. “As a result, Visa’s unlawful conduct affects not just the price of one thing — but the price of nearly everything.”

Visa’s General Counsel Julie Rottenberg told Engadget in an emailed statement that the DOJ’s lawsuit is “meritless” and that they plan to vigorously defend themselves in court. 

“Today’s lawsuit ignores the reality that Visa is just one of many competitors in a debit space that is growing, with entrants who are thriving,” Rottenberg said by email. “When businesses and consumers choose Visa, it is because of our secure and reliable network, world-class fraud protection, and the value we provide. We are proud of the payments network we have built, the innovation we advance, and the economic opportunity we enable.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/visa-slapped-with-a-doj-antitrust-lawsuit-204710873.html?src=rss

Spotify’s beta AI Playlist feature is now rolling out for Premium users in the US, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. It lets you create and refine custom playlists using text prompts. It initially arrived in April in the UK and Australia.

The company describes it as a tool “to effortlessly turn your most creative ideas into playlists.” Spotify provided several examples, including “Upbeat folk music for a scenic fall road trip” and “2000 era hype jams for the tailgate.” If its initial results don’t quite hit the mark, you can refine the playlist with further prompts, such as “less peppy” or “hold the Nickelback.”

Spotify

Spotify says the feature leans on personalization, choosing tracks it thinks you’ll like based on your listening habits. The company says the AI produces the best results with prompts about genre, mood or artists. But you can try topics like animals, activities, movie characters, colors and emojis, too.

Premium subscribers will find AI Playlists in the Spotify mobile app. (Spotify appears to be rolling out the feature gradually, so you may need to wait for it to arrive.) Navigate to Your Library, tap the + button and choose “AI Playlist.” Then, use the pop-up chat tool to start generating your custom tracklists.

Update, September 24, 2024, 4:05PM ET: This story has been updated to clarify that the feature is rolling out gradually and may not appear yet for all Premium subscribers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/spotifys-ai-playlists-are-now-available-for-premium-users-in-the-us-130008423.html?src=rss