Blizzard’s pulling of Warcraft I & II tests GOG’s new Preservation Program

Blizzard’s push of remasters has GOG committing to its DRM-free offerings.

When an updated, remastered, or otherwise spiffed-up version of a game is released, nobody—not long-time fans, not archivists, not anybody, really—ever asks for the original version of that game to be taken down. Does this seem to stop game studios from committing this unforced public relations error? Absolutely not.

Blizzard, a company that has recently released remastered versions of Warcraft and Warcraft II for $10 and $15, respectively (or in a bundle with III for $40) on its Battle.net storefront, has asked GOG to remove its non-remastered, DRM-free $15 bundle of those games from its store on December 13.

GOG (aka Good Old Games), which recently included Warcraft I and II its Preservation Program, with a "Make Games Live Forever" tagline, suddenly finds itself with a new policy to figure out. So GOG is putting the Warcraft I & II Bundle on sale (discount code "MakeWarcraftLiveForever" for $2 off) and is letting folks know that if they buy it before December 13, they will keep access to it after the delisting, complete with offline installers.

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Volkswagen workers go on strike as union fights factory closures

VW wants to close three plants in Germany, causing the largest walkout since 2018.

Volkswagen workers in Germany have gone on strike today in the largest industrial action taken against the company since 2018. The union IG Metall, which represents about 120,000 VW workers, voted to approve the strike on November 22, describing the situation as "the toughest collective bargaining battle Volkswagen has ever seen."

IG Metall's members are striking in response to VW's plans to cut its European manufacturing costs, which are dragging on the company at the same time as the Chinese market has become more difficult due to domestic competition, as well as a softening of global demand for electric vehicles.

VW's response to these tough times has been to propose a 10 percent pay cut, thousands of layoffs, and the closure of three German factories—the first time such a thing will have happened in the company's 87-year history.

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MeLE Overclock4C mini PC with Intel Core i3-N300 coming soon

The MeLE Overclock4C is a nearly pocket-sized desktop computer with an Intel Alder Lake-N processor that’s been pushed to allow better sustained performance by increasing the power limits. After launching the original MeLe Overclock4C with an Int…

The MeLE Overclock4C is a nearly pocket-sized desktop computer with an Intel Alder Lake-N processor that’s been pushed to allow better sustained performance by increasing the power limits. After launching the original MeLe Overclock4C with an Intel N95 processor in 2023, MeLe followed up this summer with a version sporting an Intel N100 chip. Now the company […]

The post MeLE Overclock4C mini PC with Intel Core i3-N300 coming soon appeared first on Liliputing.

Sony just released the first 8 minutes of Kraven the Hunter

The studio hopes to bolster its Spider-Man Universe with much-delayed film starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

Sony Picture's Kraven the Hunter explores origins of titular villain.

Hollywood is coming off a record-breaking Thanksgiving weekend, thanks to the winning trifecta of Moana 2, Gladiator II, and Wicked Part 1. Can other upcoming releases ride that wave? Perhaps that's why Sony Pictures just released the first eight minutes of its much-delayed Kraven the Hunter. which opens in 10 days.

Comic book fans are well acquainted with Kraven as one of Spider-Man's most formidable foes, a founding member of the Sinister Six. He's a Russian immigrant with an aristocratic background who fled his home country when Tsar Nicholas II's reign collapsed in 1917. He's a big-game hunter with enhanced abilities thanks to ingesting a mysterious potion made from jungle herbs. He's very hard to injure and has super-human strength and enhanced sight, hearing, and smell, and he's a good tactician with excellent hand-to-hand combat skills.

The film version appears to be an origin story. Per the official premise:

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Falcon 9 reaches a flight rate 30 times higher than shuttle at 1/100th the cost

The Falcon 9 rocket is truly delivering on the promise of rapid, reusable launch.

SpaceX recently hit some notable milestones with its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, and even in the full context of history, the performance of the vehicle is pretty incredible.

Last Tuesday, the company launched a batch of Starlink v2-mini satellites from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket, marking the 400th successful mission by the Falcon 9 rocket. Additionally, it was the Falcon program's 375th booster recovery, according to SpaceX. Finally, with this mission, the company shattered its record for turnaround time from the landing of a booster to its launch to 13 days and 12 hours, down from 21 days.

But even though it was mere hours before the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, SpaceX was not done for the month. On Saturday, November 30, the company launched twice more in a little more than three hours. The payloads were more Starlink Internet satellites in addition to two Starshield satellites—a custom version of Starlink for the US Department of Defense—for the US military.

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Intel’s CEO hasn’t turned the company around, and now he’s no longer CEO

Gelsinger rejoined Intel as CEO in early 2021 after a previous 30-year stint.

In a surprise move, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has stepped down as head of the company after less than four years, as reported by Reuters and other outlets. The change caps a chaotic year for Intel, which is poised to report its first annual financial loss since 1986 and announced layoffs of at least 15,000 employees this year as it attempted to cut costs.

Intel CFO David Zinsner and Client Computing Group head Michelle Johnston Holthaus will be sharing the title of interim CEO while the company's board of directors searches for a new CEO. Gelsinger has also stepped down from his seat on the board.

A statement from board chair Frank Yeary suggests that Intel plans to continue Gelsinger's signature push into the chip foundry business.

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