Science and technology

Warner Bros. on Wednesday confirmed development on “Hogwarts Legacy 2” after the original game sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment President David Haddad revealed that work on the sequel game was underway, calling it the company’s ‘very big priority.’ According to Haddad, the Hogwarts Legacy 2 storyline is set to feature in the upcoming Harry Potter HBO TV series , a new retelling of the original books. “The rest of the company was very curious about what we helped to unlock with Hogwarts Legacy last year,” he said. It is worth mentioning here that the original Hogwarts Legacy was set in the 1890s, before Harry Potter. While the game featured characters who are descendants of Harry Potter characters, they have no direct relations with the lead character in the series. Launched in February 2023, Hogwarts Legacy was a blockbuster game, having sold over 30 million copies worldwide across PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Reports

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa on Wednesday dropped a major update about the features of Switch 2, the successor to the original gaming console. In a post on X, he revealed that Switch 2 will be backward compatible with the original Switch console software and the Switch Online service. “At today’s Corporate Management Policy Briefing, we announced that Nintendo Switch software will also be playable on the successor to Nintendo Switch. Nintendo Switch Online will be available on the successor to Nintendo Switch as well,” Furukawa wrote. However, the Nintendo boss declined to reveal any further details about the hotly-anticipated gaming console. “Further information about the successor to Nintendo Switch, including its compatibility with Nintendo Switch, will be announced at a later date,” he wrote in the post. It is noteworthy that the original Switch did not feature traditional backward compatibility, as it shifted from the disc format of the Wii and Wii U consoles back to

The Meta-owned messaging app, WhatsApp has rolled out a new feature that backs up your data, including messages, videos, photos, and documents via Google accounts, helps retain essential information. Since WhatsApp is a key tool for messaging, calling, and data sharing, having a backup and recovery option is crucial when switching devices or purchasing a new phone. The silver lining is that users can now retrieve data using Google accounts by following a few simple steps. Step 1: Launch WhatsApp and tap on the three dots. Step 2: Navigate to Settings and scroll down to the Chats section. Step 3: In the Chats section, select Chat backup. Step 4: Now, choose the Google account where you want to perform the backup. Step 5: Tap on Back up. Also read: WhatsApp Introduces new low-light video calls feature; here’s how to enable it This procedure will initiate the upload of all your data to the cloud. The duration will depend on your internet speed. Once the process completes, you ca

The US Dollar (USD) was set for its biggest one-day rise since March 2023 against major peers on Wednesday and bitcoin jumped to an all-time high, with traders increasingly confident of a US election victory for former president Donald Trump. Republican Trump claimed victory in the 2024 presidential contest after Fox News projected he had defeated Democrat Kamala Harris. Other news outlets had yet to call the race for Trump, but he appeared on the verge of winning after capturing the battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia and holding leads in the other four, according to Edison Research. US Elections 2024- Results and Updates The US currency’s climb began after very early indications of a Republican win in Georgia. The dollar index – which measures the currency against six major peers – advanced 1.4% to 104.85 as of 0900 GMT, having earlier hit 105.31, a four-month peak. That put it on course for its best day since March 2023. Trump’s fiscal, tariff and

Ahead of the launching of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6, the Rockstar Games’s popular franchise has been banned by Tajikistan over its ‘negative influence’ on children. Critics of the popular series have been accusing Rockstar Games of glorifying violence and encouraging players to engage in criminal behaviour – allegations Take-Two Interactive executives have denied. Players in the Grand Theft Auto series sell drugs, fight, rob, go on car rampages and more. Gameplay options also included assaulting sex workers and going to strip clubs, raising the ire of activists. The allegations have now led Tajikistan to ban the game along with Counter-Strike, claiming that they encourage criminal activity. In a Telegram post, the Dushanbe Department of Internal Affairs announced banning the two franchises while revealing that police will start conducting raids on any retailers suspected of selling the aforementioned games. As per the statement, the likes of GTA and Counter-Strike “promote killing

Developer Treyarch has announced nerfing the Recon Combat Specialty perk amid complaints from Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 players. Since its launch on October 25, the developer has been constantly working to make the gaming experience as best as possible. The Recon Combat Specialty perk in Black Ops 6 is considered one of the most overpowered to make it into a Call of Duty game. Several players, however, complained about the perk since the game’s launch with many wanting it removed altogether. The perk allows players to see enemies through walls for a short period after spawning. Its effectiveness has become even more apparent with the release of Nuketown, a map with plenty of thin walls to shoot through. However, the perk is set to be nerfed after Treyarch’s Associate Director of Design Matt Scronce confirmed that it will be fixed through an update. Read more: Call of Duty Black Ops 6: Best PC settings Responding to a content creator’s complaint about the overpowered perk and an

Ubisoft has dropped a major update about the modern-day storyline of its upcoming game Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The game franchise’s executive producer Marc-Alexis Cote said that the developer had difficulty in managing the modern-day segment of the storyline after the death of protagonist Desmond at the end of 2011’s Assassin’s Creed 3. “With his death at the end of Assassin’s Creed 3, we faced a creative crossroad,” Cote said. “Ending Desmond’s arc was a difficult decision, and afterward, the modern storyline struggled to find its footing.” According to the Ubisoft official, the modern storyline arc became predictable as the following titles continued focusing on characters hunting for Isu artefacts. He said that the storyline “reduced the conflict between the Templars and the Assassins to a straightforward pursuit of control over – let’s be honest – magical relics.” Read more: Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Ubisoft responds to further delay reports The approach in turn made the m

Fans of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6 have come up with a new theory about the second trailer based on a potential teaser by Rockstar Games. Speculations about the release date of the second trailer intensified after a recent image in GTA Online showed a specific moon phase, mirroring a similar event when the first GTA 6 trailer was revealed last year. Rockstar Games released the first and only trailer for Grand Theft Auto’s sixth title on December 4, 2023. The publisher’s recent promotional image for GTA Online, released on November 1, featured a specific lunar phase; the “Waning Gibbous.” The features of the moon triggered speculations and hopes for a new trailer for GTA 6 after several fans recalled that Rockstar Games in November 2023 released a GTA Online promotional image with a prominent moon. Keen observers noted that the moon phase in the image matched the phase observed on the day, Rockstar Games dropped the first GTA VI trailer. If the pattern holds true, the ‘Waning Gibbo

KARACHI, November 2: The seventeenth edition of  SOT Events, organised by Beaconhouse, opened at the Beach Luxury Hotel in Karachi. This year’s event, titled ‘Guardians of the Future: Shaping Tomorrow with Generative AI’, is a future-oriented two-day event. For the past 24 years, SOT Events has been at the forefront of conversations that shape the future of society. The 16th edition in 2023, was about the  transformative power of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its far-reaching impact on the world. This year, SOT explores AI’s expanding role further, from reshaping industries and redefining creativity to challenging traditional notions of ownership and responsibility. Bringing together thought leaders, experts, and changemakers from diverse fields, SOT XVII offers a platform for deep reflection and forward-looking discussions. Through panel discussions, workshops, debates, interviews, and keynote talks, we seek to uncover insights and solutions for an ever-evolving world

Call of Duty Black Ops 6 marks the latest installment in a series of fast-paced shooters, and similar to its earlier versions, it introduces not only a new campaign and multiplayer elements but also improved graphics. While enhancing your graphics card or CPU is always a beneficial way to increase performance for new, demanding games, adjusting the settings can also significantly influence your experience and optimize your system’s performance. To help you achieve the finest gaming experience, we’ve compiled a list of optimal settings for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 offers numerous settings to adjust, allowing you to customize the game to your preferences. While many of these settings don’t dramatically affect performance or visuals on their own, selecting the right options can lead to a noteworthy improvement in your system’s performance and, ultimately, your frames per second (FPS). Cinematic gameplay This configuration aims to make the game appear as v

A developer, who worked on Rockstar Games’ upcoming title Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6, has hinted at exciting features in the game. Ben Hinchliffe has worked on the publisher’s LA Noire, GTA V, Red Dead Redemption 2, and GTA 6 before leaving the studio in 2021. In a recent interview with a gaming platform, Hinchliffe said that the GTA 6 team is likely working on bug-fixing and ensuring the game works. Responding to a question regarding the potential feature of the game, he said that realism in GTA 6 will ‘blow people away.’ “You only have to look at how every game Rockstar has done has evolved in some way. You could argue that every element of the game moves forward in terms of feeling more realistic and people acting and behaving more realistic as every game is iterated through each cycle,” Ben Hinchliffe said. “It will blow people away. It will sell an absolute ton as it always does. People have been talking about it for ages after GTA 5 and I’m really excited for people to get th

Indonesia said it has banned sales of smartphones made by Google due to rules requiring the use of locally manufactured components, days after blocking sales of tech giant Apple’s iPhone 16 for the same reason. Indonesia blocked sales of Google Pixel phones because the company has not met the rules which necessitate certain smartphones sold domestically to contain at least 40% of parts manufactured locally. “We are pushing these rules so that there’s fairness for all investors in Indonesia,” Febri Hendri Antoni Arief, industry ministry spokesperson, said on Thursday. “Google’s products have not adhered to the scheme we set, so they can’t be sold here.” Google said its Pixel phones were currently not officially distributed in Indonesia. Febri said consumers can buy Google Pixel phones overseas, so long as they pay the necessary taxes, adding the country would consider deactivating the phones that are illicitly sold. The block comes a week after Indonesia said it had blocked the sa

OpenAI has launched a new search feature for ChatGPT that allows paying subscribers to access real-time web information and view source links directly within the AI’s responses, directly challenging Google’s search dominance. The AI company claims its new search tool offers a more natural and conversational way to find information, enabling users to ask follow-up questions for deeper insights. While initially exclusive to paying subscribers, this feature will eventually be made available to free users as well. Earlier this year, Google integrated generative AI into its search results, merging traditional search with AI-powered responses. OpenAI’s new search feature mirrors this approach, combining the strengths of natural language interfaces with the accuracy of up-to-date web information. By partnering with various news and data organizations, OpenAI ensures that its search results include reliable and timely information, always linking back to the original source. This mimics the

Apple’s (AAPL.O), opens new tab AI-enhanced iPhone made a strong start, pushing quarterly sales ahead of Wall Street expectations, but a modest revenue forecast raised questions about whether that momentum will hold over the holiday sales season. A decline in China sales during the fourth quarter also concerned some analysts and investors, helping send shares down 1.4% in after-hours trade, despite surprisingly large overall profit and revenue in that period. Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told analysts during a conference call that Apple expects overall revenue to “grow low to mid single digits” during its fiscal first quarter, which ends in December. Analysts had expected revenue growth of 6.65% to $127.53 billion during the quarter, according to LSEG data. Apple did say it expects double-digit growth in its services business in its first quarter, leading some analysts to ask executives during a call if overall hardware revenue might decline. Executives did not address tha