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Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Microsoft‘s deal to buy Activision Blizzard got the green light Friday from regulators in the U.K. — clearing the way for the $68.7 billion blockbuster acquisition to close nearly two years after it was announced.

Rudie Obias editor If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Looking for the most popular games in 2023? According to Futbin.com, an online resource for FIFA Ultimate Team gamers, the most popular video game of the year is “Hogwarts Legacy” — based on Google Search volume from the past 12 months in nearly 90 countries around the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Brazil and much more. Released back in February, “Hogwarts Legacy” — which sold more than 12 million copies within its first two weeks — launched for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One.

The open beta for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will kick off on Friday evening.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a (virtual) trip to the Upside Down to pitch his company’s latest effort to make virtual and augmented reality a thing. The company on Wednesday announced the Meta Quest 3 mixed-reality headset, set to ship Oct.

Cyber Security Connect). “WE ARE SELLING IT”.It has not offered a price point for the files, which include “screenshots of an internal log-in page, an internal PowerPoint presentation outlining testbench details, and a number of Java files”.It’s an example of ransomware, a practice where hackers steal a company’s files and attempt to sell it back to them.

Manchester United will be looking to get back to winning ways on Saturday, as they host Brighton at Old Trafford. Two late goals saw United fall to a 3-1 defeat to Arsenal in their last fixture, with the game also being the catalyst for the question marks surrounding the future of Jadon Sancho, who is now open to leaving the club in January.

Rudie Obias editor If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Although Mortal Kombat 1 isn’t officially available until September 19, fans of the video game can get their hands on the premium edition of the fighting game early. Developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros.

Amazon customers are showering praise on a 'super fast' £5 charger that will fit into every single smartphone model - no matter whether you have an Apple iPhone, or a Android Galaxy, Huawei, Nexus, Nokia, LG or Sony. The charger, which has been hailed a'game changer' by those who have tried it, will also work for gaming consoles such as the PS4, PS5 and Xbox.

A man has been jailed for abducting and raping a teenage girl he groomed through an Xbox console.

Xbox‘s next update have been shared in a post to Xbox Wire, including direct Discord streaming, variable refresh rate improvements and more.“We heard that you wanted more Discord features! Starting this week, you can stream gameplay directly from your Xbox to your Discord friends,” Kristen Mann, principal group product manager of Xbox Experiences, said in the announcement.Players are able to enter voice channels in their Discord servers directly from their console as long as they’ve linked their account in the app first. Then, pressing the Xbox button on the controller will open the parties and chats part of the guide.Once Discord and the specific server that they want to stream to is selected, Mann encouraged players to try out the new feature to show off Starfield, which is out on PC and Xbox Series X|S today (September 6).Moving on, the update will add new options for variable refresh rate (or VRR).

With Starfield's global launch right around the corner, many gamers will be weighing up the best way to play.

PlayStation Plus (or PS Plus) will be pricier as a result of an increase across all tiers of the subscription service, which will be activated on September 6.“This price adjustment will enable us to continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits to your PlayStation Plus subscription service,” Sony wrote in a post on the platform’s official blog.Those who are already on a rolling 12-month subscription will not be charged the new prices until their next renewal date on or after November 6.Sony clarified that membership changes enacted either on or after September 6, such as moving from Essential to Extra, “will update your plan reflecting the new prices”.Ergo, the new prices for the three different tiers of PS Plus in their 12-month subscriptions are:The prices are still a saving when compared to the cost of the one-month or three-month subscriptions over the course of a year.In addition, Sony announced the PS Plus monthly games for September in the same release. These are Saints Row, Black Desert Traveller Edition and Generation Zero, and will become available from September 5.As a result subscribers will lose the ability to add August’s games – Death’s Door, Dreams and PGA Tour 2K23 – to their PlayStation library on September 4.Xbox has also altered its Game Pass subscription service in what appeared to be an attempt to safeguard Starfield‘s financial success.

With Starfield's global release right around the corner, players will be getting ready to sink as much of their free time as possible to explore the cosmos Bethesda created.

Gamers excited to jump straight into Starfield will be happy to know they won't have to wait for the full global release.

It's not much longer until players can finally get their hands on Starfield.

One Piece is one of the most popular anime shows in the world.Based on the original manga of the same name by Eiichiro Oda, the anime follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew of pirates as they search the world for the titular One Piece treasure.Since the show began in October 1999, over 1,000 episodes have aired across twenty seasons.

Microsoft has nixed the Xbox Game Pass offer that introduced new customers to the subscription service for £1, one week before Starfield‘s launch.According to Games Radar, players realised that the offer disappeared over the weekend (August 26) and that the timing appears to be related to the upcoming launch of Starfield.Originally, players were able to get their first month of Xbox Game Pass for £1 in order to see the benefits of the service, such as playable first-party launches on day one, discounts and backwards compatible classics from the Xbox 360 era.In March, Xbox’s head of global communications Kari Perez said that the offer had been killed off as it “[evaluates] different marketing promotions for new members in the future”. The company then rolled out a system where current users could invite five of their friends to free two-week trials of Xbox Game Pass.Following that, the offer was resurrected in July, but it was shortened to 14 days of Xbox Game Pass for £1 for new customers just a month later.Xbox Game Pass is available in three different versions – console, PC and Ultimate.

Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S versions of Baldur’s Gate 3 will not share the same features, but this is an concession that allows Larian Studios to release the role-playing game for the consoles before the end of the year.At the moment, Baldur’s Gate 3 is only playable on PC with a PS5 port arriving next month. Yet, the game has been an enormous success for Larian Studios, snagging enviable review scores and becoming a sensation on social media.Phil Spencer, Microsoft‘s CEO of Gaming, recently stated that the feature parity policy between the two consoles is something that guarantees as much accessibility as possible.

A young dad whose life spiralled following a break-up died after becoming 'addicted' to drugs bought on Manchester's 'Counterfeit Street'. Junior Collins, 27, was found unresponsive in his Salford flat by his older brother Scott the morning after being 'absolutely off his head' on tablets he bought the same day.

Gamescom Opening Night Live 2023 last night (August 22) and there was a slew of announcements, new trailers and release dates. Fortunately, if you missed the live event or if you’re in need of a reminder, here are all of the games that appeared in the showcase.Below, we’ve collected every new trailer that appeared during Opening Night Live 2023.

EXCLUSIVE: With the new animated version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Paramount has vibrantly revived the near 40-year-old Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird-conceived comic IP for another generation: As the pic barrels toward $100M at the global box office, Deadline hears from sources that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand is heading toward $1 billion+ in global retail sales. 

video games like,, Diablo IV and others are giving us new entertaining ways to stay cool despite the blistering summer heat outside. Regardless of the console wars between the PS4, PS5, Xbox One Xbox Series X/S and the Nintendo Switch, every person who games wants the best living room setting.

Street Fighter 6 has harkened back to its arcade origins with a secret command that turns the commentators of the match into a variety of animals.A player named pika0722chu_ posted the hidden code on Twitter (X), showing that if these buttons are pressed when the two characters are staring at each other on the versus screen, the secret feature is unlocked. Check it out below:#スト6　#ストリートファイター6　#SF6見つけた！！！！！見つけたぞ隠しコマンド！！！！顔芸できるタイミングで下　R　上　L　Y B X Aだった！！！！https://t.co/5uAIUNgRlq pic.twitter.com/ptdo3sbp3q— pika0722chu (@pika0722chu_) July 29, 2023The sequence is “Down, R1, Up, L1, Square, X, Triangle, and Circle” on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 and “Down, RB, Up, LB, X, A, Y, B” on Xbox One and the Xbox Series X|S.If these buttons are inputted successfully, the game will play a short chime sound effect and the commentators will yowl, neigh, bark, crow and more in response to the fight.As GameSpot mentioned in its own Street Fighter 6 coverage, these buttons are the same as the ones that would unlock alternate colours and the ability for both players to select the same character in Street Fighter 2 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.Street Fighter 6 offers four English commentators and four Japanese commentators as well as subtitles in 13 languages.

back-to-school shopping season, it's a great time to shop for a new Lenovo laptop. For a limited time, Lenovo's back-to-school sale is offering up to 75% off select laptops and 2-in-1 convertibles that double as a tablet.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Microsoft and Activision Blizzard extended the deadline to close their $69 billion mega-deal by three months as the parties work to get approval from U.K. regulators. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s original merger agreement expired July 18, 2023. On Tuesday, the companies entered into an agreement waiving certain rights to terminate the merger if the transaction has not closed prior to Oct. 18, 2023. The agreement also includes amendments to Activision Blizzard’s commercial Xbox arrangements with Microsoft, valued at up to $250 million for each of fiscal years 2023 and 2024. The deal, announced in January 2022, has cleared most regulatory and legal challenges, including U.S. federal courts rejection of the FTC’s bid to block the deal and the Supreme Court’s rejection of a last-minute appeal to stop the deal by a group of gamers opposed to Microsoft’s takeover of Activision.

Amazon Prime Day is officially over, but you still have one final day to shop the Walmart Plus Week sale. Walmart got in on the price-slashing action this week and the sale event is now open to everyone until 7 p.m.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor A federal court nixed the FTC’s request to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which could pave the way for the $69 billion deal to close as soon as this month. The U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California on Tuesday issued a ruling denying the Federal Trade Commission’s request for a preliminary injunction in its case regarding Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft has signaled it intends to close the takeover of Activision Blizzard — which would be the biggest ever in the gaming sector — by the July 18 deal termination date. In the ruling (available at this link), District Court Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley cited in part Microsoft’s commitment to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years, on parity with Xbox, and that Microsoft inked an agreement with Nintendo to bring the game to Nintendo Switch. The judge found that “the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail” on its claim that the merger “may substantially lessen competition,” she wrote. “To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content.”

Amazon Prime Day 2023 has officially arrived in Canada, and the deals on this year’s roster are seriously impressive. From home goods to clothes and accessories to beauty products, you’ll find almost everything you could ever want on sale today.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Gamers are in for a treat today as the highly coveted Xbox Series S console is down to the cheapest price we’ve seen for Prime Day.  A white version of the console is available for $199, $70 less than the upmarked prices seen on retailers for much of the year.

Walmart Plus Week, which starts ahead of Prime Day.Walmart+ Week kicks off today, July 10, but only Walmart Plus members can take advantage of early savings and exclusive discounts. The annual sale event will open to all shoppers tomorrow, July 11 at noon and run through Thursday, July 13 at 7 p.m.