Commissar SFLUFAN

Yes, I genuinely believe this deal is now effectively DOA.

ISW analysis for 25 April 2023: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 25, 2023 | Institute for the Study of War WWW.UNDERSTANDINGWAR.ORG Senior US and EU officials assess that Russian President Vladimir Putin would remain unwilling to negotiate in response to a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive. The New York Times (NYT) reported on April 24 that a senior European official stated that

Sure, and MS could shift those operations to other markets if the economic incentive existed to do so (i.e., other markets providing significant tax incentives). But that's really the only condition that I see that would cause that to happen. It would be business malpractice to shift operations from the UK -- which does offer economic incentives for game development -- to another location that doesn't offer the same or greater economic incentives simply out of spite.

It's really quite laughable on the face of it.

Steam or EA Downloader/EA Link/EA Download Manager/EA App?

It's all rather delightful, isn't it?

Not really a comparable situation as games released under the NetEase partnership only accounted for 3% of revenue.

Ehhhhhh - ABK isn't going to walk away from selling products in the UK market as that's the veritable definition of cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. What they will do is not invest in UK-based operations like studios, not that I believe that they were ever actually going to do that anyway.

Yeah - it sounds like pure horseshit to me.

Yes, if there is no market nexus in the UK, then there is nothing for the CMA to regulate.

The EU has not yet made its ruling.

The ResetERA thread is absolutely glorious to witness the abrupt shift from glowing optimism to stark, despairing horror.

Phil Spencer should just hand in his resignation today. Especially since the EU now has a clear path to block as well if they're so inclined.

@Paperclyp - this update's for you!

Actual gameplay:

Those of us who've been around for a while probably remember The Crossing, a Source Engine-based joint project between Valve and Arkane announced in 2007 that would've featured a blended single-player/multiplayer campaign that Arkane called "CrossPlay" set in an alternative history Paris. The game featured in a pretty extensive cover story article in the old Games For Windows magazine which I've posted below that got me really interested in the concept. Also, I've posted the game's original trailer, a compilation of gameplay footage from a Noclip documentary about Arkane from a couple of years ago, and a video from a Valve documentary series. Unfortunately, the project was cancelled in 2009 after Valve/Arkane simply couldn't find a publisher who was willing to give them the budget that they were looking for to complete the project ($15 million to $20 million) or would force them to develop a PS3 version of the game which was a non-starter because at the time the Source Engine had not been developed for that console. As described by Arkane co-founder and former lead Raphaël Colantonio in the Noclip documentary: In the subsequent years, The Crossing has surfaced whenever the gaming press turns its attention towards Arkane, usually around the time a new game of theirs is about to release, such as now with the impending release of Redfall. The most notable discussions of The Crossing in recent years have been this extensive article from Polygon and the Noclip documentary. The story of The Crossing, Arkane’s lost game WWW.POLYGON.COM Before Dishonored, Arkane was making something quite different With Redfall, just around the corner, RPS has followed tradition and published an article featuring an interview with Raphaël Colantonio that focuses on The Crossing and references how the "CrossPlay" concept finally saw the light of day in Deathloop. How Arkane's multiversal Parisian pipedream eventually gave us Deathloop WWW.ROCKPAPERSHOTGUN.COM In 2007 Arkane announced an asymmetrical multiplayer game called The Crossing. Cancelled, it lives in the studios work - as explained by Raphaël Colantonio There you have it: this has been your not-so-regular D1P reminder that an Arkane game called The Crossing once kinda/sorta existed!

That's pretty much what one of my work colleagues said when we were discussing God of War: Ragnarok. He liked the game well enough to Platinum it, but for him Elden Ring provided such a sense of wondrous exploration and discovery that made Ragnarok's very beautiful world seem somewhat "hollow".

I've completely lost track of the sheer number of alternative TTRPG systems announced in the last few months following the D&D OGL debacle. As expected, Matt Mercer/Critical Role just announced a few days ago that their Darrington Press publishing arm will be releasing not one, but two new systems: Illuminated Worlds and Daggerheart. Both of these new systems will debut at this year's Gen Con (along with a few dozen of the other new systems, I'm sure). The fact of the matter is that I'm pretty much convinced that the vast majority -- if not, all -- of these recently-announced systems will in reality be variations on the standard D&D structure/mechanics to either a greater or lesser extent. Which then begs the question: if that turns out to be the case (which it undoubtedly will!), wouldn't it just be easier to play D&D anyway? I bet that's exactly what what WotC and its Pinkerton henchmen are counting on!

According to one of the Reddit posters:

If given the choice between retaining the brand or the data models as was the situation with the initial Disney acquisition, the relatively safer bet is the retention of the data models from the standpoint of which one has the greater potential for future value generation.

Of what utility is the 538 brand without the assets (the models) that underpinned it? The audience that 538 caters to is almost exclusively there for the data analysis, not the brand in and of itself. They're going to follow Silver, not stay with the Silver-less 538 brand. Disney has retained an effectively useless shell.

First Republic also had a significant amount of uninsured deposits (68%) which led to the same situation as SVB where they were forced to liquidate their Treasuries at significant discounts to cover the withdrawals. That death spiral was what led to the initial $30 billion infusion.

@rc0101 - do you have any insight into this?

I rate that at 70% probability.