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Credit where credit is due: Mojang has made some incredibly smart bets about ways to expand the Minecraft franchise. Back when Microsoft announced its purchase of the studio and its monolithic IP, I struggled to imagine exactly what could be done with Minecraft beyond the base game. Sure, that would continue to expand and grow – but did people really want to do anything else in that universe? At the time, I reasoned that it didn’t matter if the universe could expand or not. Minecraft alone was big enough and important enough that it was worth every penny of the $2.5 billion Microsoft paid for it. But then, something magical happened: Mojang kept making smart partnerships that expanded the universe in brilliant and often unexpected ways. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings Nice, easy-to-read UI makes this Minecraft spin-off accessible to more than just adults. Lego Minecraft went from a one-off set for nerds to a fully-fledged series of...

FromSoftware , the Japanese studio that went from a niche developer that produces mini-hits, to the creator of Elden Ring – 2022’s best-selling game so far – is and has been a hot target for acquisition and acquisition speculation. But while FromSoftware has not been bought by any big player, major companies are quickly buying up stock in Kadokawa, the corporation that owns FromSoftware. Kadokawa announced this morning in a press release [PDF] that it has issued new shares of its stock in FromSoftware to Chinese giant Tencent, and Sony Interactive Entertainment. Tencent, through its subsidiary Sixjoy Hong Kong, now owns 16.25% of the studio, while Sony Interactive Entertainment owns 14.09% – for a total of 30.34%. Kadokawa remains the largest holder of FromSoftware’s stocks, at 69.66%. In the press release, the FromSoftware parent company said the funds will “strengthen” the studio’s capabilities to create and develop game IP. Interestingly, it also hinted that FromSoft may be ...

SEGA has released a new video for Sonic Frontiers that provides an overview of the game. The video shows all sorts of gameplay, and the narration provides plenty of details regarding Sonic’s latest adventure. In Sonic Frontiers, our blue hero is searching for the Chaos emeralds. While on this adventure, he becomes stranded on an ancient island teeming with unusual creatures. As Sonic, you will battle hordes of powerful enemies and experience open-zone platforming freedom across the Starfall Islands as the blue blur and friends go after Dr. Eggman, who has lost control of an “ancient technology.” The game will feature an evolved gameplay experience allowing you to explore lush and expansive landscapes with Sonic’s signature speed and abilities. Originally slated for release in 2021 to coincide with the Sonic franchise’s 30th anniversary, SEGA delayed the game to work on quality control. It will be made available for PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. ...

I’ll come clean. I’m writing this well in advance of publication as I’m going on holiday. I usually spend literal minutes coming up with a brilliant way to segue into the topic of the week’s podcast. It is often very brilliant and hilarious. The relationship between me and the podcast article is complicated. It’s not easy. It requires work for it to be the best it can be. You can’t just turn up and hope to have a great podcast article without trying your hardest. Sometimes I even hold a little ceremony before I write the article, just to show how serious I am about writing it. It’s a big deal, so I have to make sure I’ve thought it through properly. But I’m not doing that today, because of the holiday reason I mentioned above – a holiday I’m taking after writing the article, which is in no way related to the topic of the podcast. Welcome to the VG247 Best Games Ever Podcast , Episode 15: Best game with a wedding in it. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage co...

Tekken 7 has a substantial cheating problem , and it’s been a major blemish on an otherwise excellent fighter ever since it was released back in 2015. With the tease of a new Tekken project shown off during Evo , and the transition from this fan-favourite 3D brawler to something fresh in the foreseeable future, there’s a substantial worry that Tekken 7 will be left in the lurch forever. To find out as much about the cheating situation in Tekken 7, we reached out to professional players, content creators, and ordinary Tekken enthusiasts to learn their experiences with the online experience, what forms of cheating are present, and how they hope future instalments of Tekken will battle these issues. Check out the trailer for waht could very well be Tekken 7’s last big update. To start, it’s important to break down what ‘cheating’ actually means in the context of Tekken 7. When most people think of cheats in modern multiplayer titles, they think of exterior programs that provide a di...

If you have a spare cool mill laying around somewhere, and fancy upping your console collection, there’s an eBay listing you might want to check out. With the world of video games offering a fair number of rare collectibles due to limited prints of cartridges, or certain consoles and peripherals not doing well enough to warrant much production of them, there’s a lot of collectors in turn who like to build personal libraries. And recently, an eBay listing (spotted by Consolevariations.com ) shows a pretty impressive collection of roughly 2400 different consoles. And all the seller wants for it is €984,000, which is about a million US dollars, or £850,000. The auction looks legitimately impressive. Images show a Japanese and (presumably) European version of the Pokemon themed N64, a deliciously burnt orange GameCube, a PSP Go, and so much more. Seriuosly, it is a ridiculuosly large collection that honestly could be worth the asking price. The user in question, kariaure, has even sha...

Rishi Sunak’s arrival in No.10 has as soon as once more put his household’s wealth within the highlight at a time when the cost-of-living disaster is pushing tens of millions of households in Britain into debt. Sunak and his spouse, Akshata Murty, are reportedly price round £730m between them – “roughly double the estimated £300m-£350m wealth of King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort”, mentioned The Guardian. Sunak grew to become a “multimillionaire in his mid-twenties”, in line with The Sunday Occasions. He was a accomplice on the hedge fund TCI, the place bosses “shared almost £100m after an audacious inventory market wager that lit the touchpaper on the 2008 monetary disaster”. Tabloids “have dubbed the politician ‘Rishi Wealthy’, a play on the title of the children’ film Richie Wealthy in regards to the world’s wealthiest boy,” mentioned NewsWeek.  Believed to be one of many wealthiest MPs, Sunak’s private fortune pales compared to that of his spouse and her household. ...

A evaluate of the UK’s state pension age will ask whether or not individuals in areas with totally different life expectations ought to obtain their pension at totally different occasions. The Division for Work and Pensions (DWP) introduced on Tuesday that it plans to “take into account variations throughout nations and areas, together with Northern Eire” when reviewing whether or not the present guidelines round pensionable age needs to be amended. The present state pension age for women and men is 66 years for these born earlier than April 1960, 67 years for these born within the month of or after April 1960, and 68 years for these born within the month of or after April 1977. Between 2018 till the beginning of 2020, the typical UK life expectancy was 79 years for males and 82.9 years for ladies. Nevertheless, the Covid pandemic triggered life expectancy losses “not seen since World Conflict II”, in line with a research by the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science on the Coll...

Fitch Scores has been creating worth for international markets and difficult standard considering since 1923, when it invented its now-familiar AAA to D rankings scale. As a division of Fitch Group, the agency is devoted to offering credit score rankings and impartial, forward-looking credit score opinions. Fitch Scores affords international views formed by native market expertise and credit score market experience. In an period of volatility and technological transformation, Fitch stays dedicated to offering transparency and insights to empower shoppers to make better-informed choices. The extra context and perspective have helped traders to fund progress and make necessary judgments with higher confidence. “Because the significance of ESG considerations grew to become more and more obvious, Fitch was the primary company to systematically publish opinions on the relevance of ESG to particular person credit score rankings.” World interconnectedness and the present pace of change...

Established in 2002, ARA Asset Administration Restricted ( ARA ) is a number one APAC actual belongings fund supervisor which manages actual property funding trusts (REITs), non-public actual property fairness and credit score funds, and infrastructure funds with a footprint in 28 nations globally, and S$110 billion 1 in gross belongings underneath administration at current. ARA Asset Administration is without doubt one of the pioneers within the REIT (actual property funding belief) business in Singapore. Broadly recognised as one of many pioneers within the Singapore REIT business, ARA launched Asia’s first cross-border REIT, Fortune REIT, Singapore’s first composite REIT, Suntec REIT, Hong Kong’s first workplace/industrial REIT, Prosperity REIT, industrial REIT, ARA LOGOS Logistics Belief, the primary offshore RMB-denominated REIT, Hui Xian REIT and Singapore’s first pure-play US upscale select-service hospitality belief, ARA US Hospitality Belief. Past REITs, ARA additionally m...

Writer: BVI Finance CEO Elise Donovan IFCs resembling BVI have proved to be an integral ingredient in holding the wheels of the worldwide financial system turning in the course of the pandemic. Worldwide monetary centres (IFCs) play a elementary position within the international financial system. Traditionally, they’ve helped to facilitate cross-border enterprise, enabling a straightforward and efficient move of property across the globe – and in so doing, have had a vital half to play within the development of main economies resembling China. Through the years, these locations have grow to be ever extra refined and specialised. At present, IFCs cater to a variety of worldwide clients – from start-ups and household workplaces to multinational banks; in addition they present an array of providers resembling asset administration and safety, tax planning, entry to capital and insurance coverage. Among the many IFCs, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has emerged as a number one moneta...