Publisher Prototype have announced that Stella of the End will receive a Switch release this year in Japan. The visual novel, developed by Key, originally released last year on PC, and received a Western localization, so an overseas release seems likely. You can get an overview of the game below, which comes via its Steam page: STORY The world no...

The post Stella of the End coming to Switch this year appeared first on Nintendo Everything.

The 2023-24 season has wrapped up, and there are still quite a number of sci fi and fantasy television shows waiting to hear if they will stick around for another year. I expected more cancellations than usual this year, and we haven’t quite seen that yet, but that could change depending on how many of these shows end up getting sent to the Network Executioner. So far, 21 genre entries were cancelled or ended in this past season (27% of shows tracked) while 34 have been renewed so far (44%). You can see the full rundown of shows with all of their statuses at our Cancellation Watch Page, and below I look at the ones that have not received either a cancellation or renewal announcement yet.

The shows that I have flagged as On the Bubble can certainly use a Call to Action from fans on the social networks. And pretty much every show that has not been renewed yet could benefit from any form of fan support. We have seen genre entries like The Expanse, Lucifer, and Manifest saved by fan campaigns in the past, and perhaps one of the shows below could be the next to get an extended lease on life. Be sure to follow this site and our Twitter and Mastodon accounts for updates and breaking news on these shows as well as the genre entries for the 2024-25 season.

See all the upcoming sci fi and fantasy TV premieres at this link and keep up with the weekly schedule at this link.

The Acolyte (Disney+, Renewal Possible): This live-action Star Wars entry is not quite a Bubble show yet, but pretty close. Showrunner Leslye Headland has plans for more seasons of this show, but there have been rumors that Disney+ is not planning on continuing it beyond its first year, largely because it is so expensive to produce. It did make an appearance in the Nielsen Streaming Rankings, though, so maybe that will help its chances.

The Ark (Syfy, Renewal Possible): The second season of this space opera has just started, and Nielsen ratings data for the cable channels is sparse these days, so it is hard to make a call on this one at this point. Syfy has been bad about promoting its originals, and reviews have been mixed on the show, so I would not count it as a strong genre entry at this point. But perhaps it will do well enough to journey into a third season.

Ark: The Animated Series (Paramount+, On the Bubble): This animated entry released the first six episodes of its first season with no advance notice in March 2024, with the remaining seven set to be released later in the year.  It was originally supposed to premiere in 2023, but the show got shuffled around and Paramount+ does not appear to be giving it much promotion.  This is a co-licensed production with Studio Wildcard and Tiger Animation, and it may end up getting only the one season from the streaming service, though it could get shopped around to other venues.

Beacon 23 (MGM+, On the Bubble): This show had originally been a joint production by AMC and Spectrum and had been picked up for two seasons according to an interview with executive producer Glen Mazzara. It shifted over to MGM+ when AMC and Spectrum backed out, and there are plans for additional seasons. It is unclear if that network has an interest in keeping the show going, though, or if they just picked it up for a burn-off run.

Cult-SciFi.com: Looking Back at Cult Movies, TV Shows, Books, and More from the Worlds of Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Horror

The Changeling (Apple TV+, On the Bubble): This horror series did not develop too much buzz in its first season, but its creative team has a two-season plan in place that will wrap up all of its storylines. Showrunner Kelly Marcel says that “season one was a setup of a lot of questions, and season two is the answer to all of those questions”. However, there has been no word on that second season yet, and with Apple TV+ looking to cut back on spending for its original content, this show’s fate could be very much in doubt.

Chucky (Syfy/USA, Renewal Possible): There has been no word on a fourth season of this horror/comedy yet, but creator Don Mancini has already made a pitch to Syfy for where the show can go next. In addition, fans have an opportunity to support the show by calling 1-201-500-3347 to demand more adventures from Chucky. Its linear viewing numbers dropped off in its third year, but perhaps this one could stick around for another season (maybe becoming a USA exclusive like Resident Alien) if the fans lobby for it.

Creepshow (Shudder, Renewal Possible): This horror anthology has proven quite popular for the Shudder streaming service, setting viewership records and also receiving good buzz from critics and fans (plus, it has done well in its encore runs on AMC). There has been no word on a fifth season yet, but I am guessing that this one is not done yet.

Dark Matter (Apple TV+, Renewal Possible): This sci fi entry has not made it into the Nielsen Streaming Rankings so far, though it currently has mostly positive feedback, holding an 81% Fresh Rating and 82% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. Series creator Blake Crouch has indicated that he has ideas for a second season in an AMA he did on Reddit, though he has also suggested that the first season told the full story that he had planned. With Apple TV+ looking to cut back on spending for its original content, it is unclear where this one stands, but it could stick around for another season.

For status updates on the current sci fi and fantasy shows along with breaking news on cancellations and renewals, follow our Cancellation Watch posts.

Dead Boy Detectives (Netflix, Renewal Possible): This series spent three weeks in the Netflix Top 10 and two weeks in the Nielsen Streaming Rankings, though that may not be enough to satisfy the completion rate that Netflix execs are looking for. It is tied to the same universe as The Sandman, and perhaps that connection will keep it going, but the streamer is known for cutting bait on shows it does not believe are performing up to its viewing standards.

Hit Monkey (Hulu, On the Bubble): This animated entry is the last surviving show from the Marvel Television days before Marvel Studios took over production on all of the TV entries. It did not make it into the Nielsen Streaming Rankings in its second season and it has received very little buzz so far. There are plans for a third season, but my confidence is not high that it will go forward.

Orphan Black: Echoes (AMC, Renewal Possible): This Orphan Black spin-off has not drawn much of an audience so far based on the linear ratings and it has received mixed reviews. But AMC continues to advertise it pretty strongly, so perhaps they want to keep this franchise going. It may be performing better in digital viewing (I have not seen any numbers for that), and that may help get it to a second season.

Pluto (Netflix, On the Bubble): This animated series did not place in the Netflix Top 10 during its first-season run, and it adapted the full Manga across its eight episodes. If there is no word on it over the next month or so, I will consider it ended.

Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale (AMC+, Renewal Possible): This supernatural drama arrived without much advance notice, though it did get a fair amount of promotion from AMC once it started streaming. No viewership numbers are available, and it did not develop much buzz during its first season run. But it is likely not too expensive to produce and there is still a chance that it could return for a second season.

For the weekly schedule of sci fi and fantasy shows along with news and the latest trailers, follow our Sci Fi TV Highlights posts.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Netflix, On the Bubble): This animated continuation of the feature film made it into the Netflix Top 10 the week after its premiere, but according to creators Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski, they consider the first season to be one-and-done and currently have no ideas for a second year of the show. They have not completely ruled out a continuation, but if there is no word on it in the next month or so I will consider it ended.

Strange Planet (Apple TV+, On the Bubble): This animated series based on the webcomic of the same name came and went with very little fanfare and did not make any noise in the streaming charts. It has been a year since it premiered with no word on its fate, so likely this is one-and-done, especially considering that Apple TV+ is cutting back on spending for its original content.

Sugar (Apple TV+, Renewal Possible): This mystery series with sci fi elements developed some good buzz during its first season run, and from what I understand it performed well compared to other originals on Apple TV+. There has been no word on a second season yet, and Apple TV+ is cutting back on spending for its original content, but perhaps it could stick around for another year.

Sunny (Apple TV+, Renewal Possible): This sci fi dramedy arrived with very little fanfare and has not developed much buzz so far. It is still releasing episodes from its first season, and Apple TV+ may not have made a decision about its fate yet. But that streamer is cutting back on spending for its original content, so it is unclear whether a second season is a possibility for this show.

Keep up with sci fi TV news, updates, trailers and discussions at r/SciFiTV.

The Swarm (CW, Renewal Possible): This German-made series is an acquisition by The CW and its viewership in the U.S. will likely have little impact on whether it gets renewed. It is an expensive show to produce, but it did perform well in its home country during its first season run and a second season is possible. But if there is no word on that in the next month or so, I will consider it ended.

Them (Prime Video, Renewal Possible): The second season of this show made a brief appearance in the Nielsen Streaming Rankings and showrunner Little Marvin has indicated that he has plans for a third season. There has been no word on that yet, but this one could stick around for another year or so.

Time Bandits (Apple TV+, Renewal Possible): This reboot of the 1981 Terry Gilliam film is another new entry from Apple TV+ that did not receive much promotion before its premiere. The early reviews have been mixed on this one and no viewership numbers are available, so it is hard to make a call at this point. Apple TV+ is cutting back on spending for its original content, and this looks like a costly production, so if the viewership is not there it could end up as another one-and-done genre entry from that service.

Velma (Max, On the Bubble): People were surprised that this show received a second season after the first was pretty widely panned, but apparently that had been planned in advance. It did not make it into the Nielsen Streaming Rankings across its two seasons, and it currently holds only 38% on the Tomatometer scale and a 10% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. A third season seems unlikely at this point, especially as Max is cutting back on its original content.

Wolf Like Me (Peacock, Renewal Possible): This Australian-made supernatural dramedy has received very little attention for its run in the States on Peacock. But it is relatively inexpensive to produce and could stick around for another season or so, especially since it has an international partnership propping it up.

Be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates. And for the latest news and discussions on sci fi and fantasy television, follow r/SciFiTV

Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

The post Bubble Sci Fi TV: A Look at the Shows from the 2023-24 Season Still Awaiting Word on Their Fates appeared first on Cancelled Sci Fi.

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Steam store page – Twitter/X – Wikipedia

I know that I’m extremely late when it comes to the Palworld hype. Palworld released in early January 2024 and currently, since there aren’t a lot of updates dropping, the hype died out. Yet, the roadmap looks extremely promising. Since this game is still in early access, I’m always hesitant in writing about the game. Since, you never know which mechanics or things will change and evolve during the early access period. Especially since we are currently only at v0.1.5.1. So, I decided to hold off on my first impression/review article for now. But, I wanted to talk about this game. So, here are some things I’d love to see in the full version of Palworld or even in one of the next updates.

First of all, what is a Palworld?

Palworld is a combination of several games, all thrown into one. It’s easy to describe Palworld with saying which games it combines.

Foremost, at its core, it’s a game you can somewhat compare to Ark Survival Evolved. When I first started playing, I noticed the similarities right away. The way how you have a crafting system to build your base, and you have monsters running around you can tame/catch is totally here as well.

I haven’t played a lot of Ark, so I can’t say if this mechanic is also present in Ark… But, the fact you can use your monsters to preform tasks in your base reminded me quite a lot of The Survivalists. A game where you are stranded on an island, and you can train monkeys to preform actions for you. The big difference is that now certain monsters can only preform certain tasks, instead of the monkeys just copying you.

Now, a lot of other articles describe this game as Pokémon with guns. After playing this game, I think that’s a somewhat unfair comparison. When I think Pokémon, I think a journey with gyms and an evil team. I think turn based battles and a big ending tournament as its conclusion. While some Pals share a very similar design language to some Pokémon, most of the mechanics of what makes a Pokémon game aren’t in this game. The other big mechanic is the capture mechanic, but by now this isn’t exclusive to Pokémon games anymore. Especially since we have games like Coromon.

There are also influences of the latest Zelda games. Especially Tears of the Kingdom. There are these huge, strong bosses roaming around on the huge open world map, you can beat at any time. Also, the korok seeds to upgrade your character are also here in the form of effigies and Pal souls to upgrade your monsters.

This game really feels like the developers looked at all the games they liked playing, looked at what worked and threw it all together into one pot and shook it until it all clicked together. The mechanics of this game really click extremely well together. If I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t be surprised if I said that this was a finished game.

There are some silly bugs here and there and in some spots, this game feels unfinished. But, overall the game we have currently is amazing and if you would enjoy a game like this after reading what I wrote here… Give this game a try. I only told you the most basic things in this game. This game is a survival game with elements from a lot of other games like those I have already mentioned but also Minecraft, Dragon Quest Builders and various others.

Let’s talk improvements

While the game is a lot of fun to play at the moment, there are some things I wish that were improved or updated. While you get a lot of warnings that there are: save corruption bugs, crashes and bugs… Besides sometimes the lighting engine giving up for a moment or the AI of the pals or enemies doing some funky stuff, I haven’t seen too many worrying things.

Take for example this floating rock screenshot here. I have explored roughly half of the map after 35 hours of play, and this was the only floating rock I could find. That’s extremely impressive, especially since if you look at the size of the map… It isn’t small at all. In the future, new islands and area’s will be added so if they deliver them with this kind of quality, I have no complaints.

Well, I do have one recommendation. I’d love to see more landmarks in the map. Currently, almost all the landmarks in the game are based upon the terrain. I’d love to see more villages or ruins of them. I loved finding these things in the Zelda games and letting my mind wonder what happened there. It’s a very difficult balance act, since too many landmarks would make the map feel crowded and limit the amount of possible base locations.

Basically, I’d love more reasons for me to go exploring these regions and get unique rewards. Besides completing the Paldex, there isn’t a lot of reason to go exploring in certain area’s. And when you have set up the right kind of farms and work stations for your pals in your bases, the chance you run out of resources is rather small.

Speaking about bases, currently you can only have three bases. Most likely, this is done to improve the multiplayer performance. Since, the game emulates the three bases in the background, so you can easily have a base close to big ore clusters to farm those while you are working in your other base. If you don’t place a cap on those, it’ll tank the performance of any computer or server. Yet, I’d give the tools to the player to increase the cap. Personally, I think Minecraft has one of the best systems with the game rules. You can almost change anything to your playstyle and even disable or remove caps that are there for performance reasons. You already have quite a lot of toggles and sliders in Palworld, but I’d also expand on that.

Currently, the building system is decent, but it needs a lot of polishing up. The biggest problem I have with the building system are the stairs. It’s a nightmare sometimes to place stairs to go from one to another floor. Also, why can’t we place a full wall next to stairs? Most likely because some pals their hitbox would do some crazy stuff? Also, placing certain items or crafting stations on elevated floors doesn’t always work the best.

On top of that, besides the visual look of the floors, walls and ceilings, what’s the point of being able to unlock stone foundations? As a test, I tried to build a high tower with wood and one with stone. I didn’t find a difference. I’d love to see more meaning to what I unlock. Granted, stone can’t burn down. So, if you have any raids with flamethrower or fire enemies, your base isn’t in danger. But what’s the difference between stone and metal, then?

I honestly think that it’d be a bad idea if PocketPair only created more content and not make the mechanics have more depth. For example, something I’d love to see them implementing in the pal task system is a mechanic I love in Cult of the Lamb. When you welcome a new member in your cult, you can set the main focus of a member there. I’d love to see that you are able to set the main focus per pal. For example, when things are damaged in the base after a raid, you select one pal to go and get the repair kits and repair all damages first before going to do their usual tasks. Or when you have a pal that can do multiple things, and you mostly need that pal to pick up items, you could disable their other abilities. Maybe we need some items for that and those items can be only found in the wild, and we need to hunt for them. That’s an interesting idea to lure players out of their bases.

Dreaming like a madman

There are some UI elements I’d love to see change as well. First, I’d love to have a mini-map. The compass at the top of the screen only shows things in roughly 300m range, and that’s too short. Especially since in some areas the warp spots are spread quite far apart. A mini-map where you can pin certain things like the nearest warp spot would be amazing.

Secondly, in terms of the weapons. I’d love to see their stats before I craft them. Now it’s a guessing game that if I craft a certain weapon, if it’s going to be stronger or better than the one I currently have. It’d also be amazing if the durability is shown outside the inventory as well. There is some space in the UI element at the bottom right, so why not show it?

Now, in terms of the inventory. Sometimes I have issues with combining stacks of items. Sometimes I have to do it twice or thrice before they are combined. This is a rather small things, but outside of those… I don’t have a lot of small quality of life things that I could recommend. Maybe that if you sleep during the day in your bed, you can skip to night if you are hunting the nightlife pals?

Maybe there is one quality of life feature I think would be amazing. Quite often, when I’m hunting the stronger pals, I have my pal instructions set on “Focus on the same enemy”. I think it would have an amazing option if you have a feature where you are able to say to your pal if they are allowed to kill the wild pal or not. Since, if they are dead, you can’t capture them.

There is one attack that is a double-edged sword. In the Pokémon games, you have the self-destruct attack. You also have this one in Palworld, yet, some wild pals with this attack always take it over their other attacks. These bee pals always swarm me and instead of being able to weaken them, so I can catch them, I just get blown up. You barely have a chance to do any damage to weaken them to make capturing possible.

I just remembered one other quality of life feature. You can create saddles, gloves and other things to do special things with your pals. But, why I am allowed to create more than one? I mean, I can only use one of them at a time and they can be interchanged. So, if you make a saddle for a certain bird pal e.g. Helzephyr, that means you can use it on all Helzephyrs you catch.

But the biggest quality of life feature PocketPair could add is a mini-map inside caves/dungeons. The times I almost got lost in these caves is insane. Especially since there are only a handful of rooms in these and it’s easy to get turned around and confused.

Now, to completely change the subject… I wish there was more music in the game. The soundtrack in this game is amazing. Sadly, there isn’t enough in the game at the moment, so there are some silent moments. A little bit more ambient tracks would go a really long way in this game.

But, I saved one of my biggest things for last. That is inventory management. This is a total pain in bases. Since pals can put things inside chests, you can forget organisation. Thankfully, while crafting, the game pulls from all resources in your base, but if you need a certain item to use at another base, have fun to go searching through all your chests. What I usually do, if I can, is start crafting an item with the one I want to move and then cancel it. Since it drops the resources then and there. Now, how to solve this without breaking the game and the idea that pals can put things in chests? What if you have a new skill that pals can have? An organisation skill and depending on the level, they either put red things with red things or make a weapons chest and come to complain to you when there aren’t enough chests for their organisation?

If your base is fully set up, the proper of a lack of depth starts to show as well. When you build your base, why should you return to it besides needing to craft or repair your weapons? Give us some activities we can do in our base when we build them. I mean come on, we even have the amusement furniture set. If only we could play some mini-games with our pals to increase their sanity for example? Since currently, there is not a lot you can do when a pal is stressed.

Of course, a certain balance needs to be maintained. The more things a pal can interact with, the more chance you have to create lag or overwhelm the player. Also, the more depth you create, the more things you have to maintain and maybe that’s not the type of game that PocketPair wants to create. How I currently see Palworld is a playground sandbox in the schoolyard. It’s an amazing playground where you can make your own fun but it’s only part of the schoolyard and only has a swing, some monkey bars, a climb rack, a small castle and a slide. It’s all solid built and amazing to spend your time in… But, then you notice the potential this sandbox has to grow. What if we enlarged that sandbox with another castle, so the multiplayer can be player vs player as well? Or wait, why don’t we add an underground to that sandbox?

All I’m saying is that currently Palworld has an amazing foundation. The biggest issue at the moment is that the game lacks depth. While the current roadmap has a lot of expansions and more content, I hope PocketPair doesn’t forget to also make it more than just surface level. For example, imagne that the raid bosses can be captured and barely have an unique skills. Why should the player do the raids then? What reward do you get out of it? Not all mechanics can be fun because they are enjoyable to do. Players will get bored and they will look for a way to spice things up or to challenge themselves.

Now what that said, I’m going to close off this article. I’m quite excited for the future of Palworld and I’m going to wait a few more updates before I decide to write a review on the game. But overall, I’m really liking what I see. The basis of an amazing title is here already and I think we are going to get an even better game when this comes out of early access. Let’s wait and see what happens when the first big updates drop. Especially the raid bosses that got teased a few weeks ago.

Thank you so much for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. What do you think of PalWorld and what should be added or changed? Let me know in the comment section down below. Also, what do you think of my idea’s? I’m curious, feel free to leave a comment about that one to. But, I also hope to welcome you in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

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Hello fellow gamers, 

I’ve got something absolutely tremendous to share with you today—something that’s just going to blow your mind. I recently had the pleasure of diving into a brand new RPG, a classic one called *Eve Of Calamity*. And let me tell you, it was quite a ride, folks. I got the Steam Key from Keymailer, and I want to give a huge shoutout to the brilliant developer behind *Eve Of Calamity* and, of course, Keymailer for making this possible. Tremendous people, really.

So here’s the deal: in my very first hour with *Eve Of Calamity*, I went through the character creation process. And folks, it was incredibly simple. I created a female knight—very powerful, very impressive, believe me. It’s all about making a strong start, right?

The story kicked off right at my character’s home. After a bit of dialogue—lots of talking, which you know, can be a bit slow but important—I took my character, along with her brother Suma, out for a deer hunt. Now, you’d think a deer hunt would be easy, but no, that’s not how it went down. After we hunted the deer and headed back home, guess what happened? We got ambushed by a group of enemies. Can you believe it? My character and her party were taken down so easily. Total disaster. 

At the end of this big, dramatic fight, Suma was defeated, and Aeron—well, let’s just say Aeron didn’t make it. It was a real tough break. Following Aeron’s advice, my character then met up with Flora in a nearby town. And here’s where things get interesting: my character also met another character who joined the party. They set out on this epic journey to take down the Goblin King, or was it the Goblin Leader? Honestly, it was a bit unclear, but what’s clear is they all met their end. Tough game, folks.

So, there you have it—a quick summary of my first hour playing *Eve Of Calamity*. It’s been a wild ride with lots of ups and downs. If this sounds like your kind of game, or if you just want to see how it all plays out, head over to my channel and watch the whole hour. It’s going to be a blast, I promise. 

Thank you and happy gaming.

HBO has released the first footage of the second season of The Last of Us, and it implies that things for Pedro Pascal’s Joel may be a little bit different than they are in the game. No, not that different, but it seems like he might be going to therapy.

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Once you’ve set up your new iPhone, it’s time to make the most of it with the best iPhone accessories. It’s exciting to choose a new case or wireless charger, and personalize your smartphone with a cute PopSocket to really show off your style. There are probably a bunch of iPhone accessories you didn’t even know you needed, like a kickstand so you can watch YouTube or TikTok videos while getting ready in the morning, or an AirTag so you can use your new iPhone 15 Pro Max to keep track of all your belongings. With an extensive range of iPhone accessories to choose from, we’ve whittled down the best accessories that are worth investing in. If you’re not quite done accessorizing your Apple devices, you can also check out our recommendations for the best Apple Watch accessories.

Best iPhone accessories

The real fight for free speech means more than just doing “that which matches the law.” It means being willing to stand up to extremist authoritarian bullies, even when the odds are stacked against you. Challenging regimes where a single satirical post, a meme, or a critical blog can put someone behind bars requires bravery. But sometimes people have to fight, because it’s the right thing to do.

And every once in a while you win.

The notoriously thin-skinned authoritarian Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sued thousands of people for the crime of “insulting” him (or comparing him to Gollum).

He has jailed journalists for criticizing his government and claims that social media (not his own authoritarian rule) is a “threat to democracy” for allowing his critics to speak.

It won’t surprise you to find out that his government is frequently looking to silence people online.

Elon Musk complied, but the makers of WordPress, Automattic (which also host Techdirt), fought back. Like ExTwitter, Turkey regularly demands Automattic remove content critical of Erdogan. After a demand to remove a critical blog in 2015, Automattic went to court. And while it lost initially, basically a decade later it has prevailed:

With the support of the blogger, we swiftly appealed the First Instance Court’s decision on the basis that such a restriction was an undue interference in freedom of expression. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), this argument was rejected.

At Automattic, we firmly believe in the importance of freedom of expression—and we weren’t about to let this clear attempt at political censorship go by without a fight. Given the nature of the allegations involved, we decided to strike back, and petitioned the Turkish Constitutional Court. While the prospects of success seemed low, we were fully prepared to take the case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if necessary.

Eight years after we submitted our original appeal, we finally received word that the Constitutional Court had accepted our arguments, and unanimously concluded that both the user’s freedom of expression (as provided for under Article 26 of the Turkish Constitution) and their right to an effective remedy (as provided for under Article 40) had been violated. 

According to Automattic, this is a rare and surprising outcome. Turkish courts have rejected similar attempts by the company, but the company hasn’t stopped fighting these fights and, at least in this case, succeeding.

Do not underestimate the significance of this outcome. Victories of this kind in Turkey are rare, and prior to this case, we had spent almost $100,000 USD appealing 14 different takedown orders, without any success.

At Tech Policy Press, Burak Haylamaz explores how Turkey’s “Internet Law” has been widely abused:

…the Turkish government has employed various tactics over the last decade, including content or website access blocking and removal, bandwidth restrictions, and internet throttling to censor critical media and quell government criticism. By the end of 2022, a total of 712,558 websites and domain names, access to 150,000 URL addresses, 9,800 Twitter accounts, 55,000 tweets, 16,585 YouTube videos, 12,000 Facebook posts, and 11,150 Instagram posts were blocked in Türkiye. These decisions are imposed by various authorities, most effectively through recourse mechanisms before the criminal judgeships of peace, which are carefully framed within the legal system.

It’s especially notable that the main law Turkey relies on for this broad censorship was directly modeled on similar “internet regulations” in Europe (especially Germany’s NetzDG law, which partially inspired the DSA across the EU).

This ruling in favor of Automattic is significant because it puts at least some guardrails on the government’s abuse of the law. However, there are limits. As Haylamaz explains, the Constitutional Court had called out the censorial problems with the law years ago, but left it up to the Turkish Parliament to address, which it did not do.

Finally, with no progress, the Constitutional Court again stepped up to call out how these laws conflict with free expression and to declare them unconstitutional, though for some reason the law stays in place until October.

As Haylamaz further explains, this ruling on the law hasn’t stopped Turkish officials from issuing more blocking orders:

One might assume that the criminal judgeships of peace would cease issuing access-blocking and/or content removal decisions based on Article 9 of the Internet Law, or at least consider the interests of online platforms and content authors, especially after the article was deemed unconstitutional. However, this is simply not the case in Turkish politics and courtrooms. The criminal judgeships of peace continue to issue access-blocking and/or content removal decisions based on Article 9 of the Internet Law, despite its unconstitutional status. This comes as no surprise to many, especially after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his discomfort with the Constitutional Court’s internet-related decisions and announced his intention to closely monitor them.

It’s good to see Automattic taking on the impossible task of fighting censorial, authoritarian governments and winning. It would be nice to see more companies follow suit.

More bad news for ShotSpotter, which recently re-branded to “SoundThinking” to distance itself from exactly this sort of negative press. Four legislators (three senators, one congressperson) are asking the DHS Inspector General to take a closer look at the tech the DHS is funding via one of its grant programs.

The problem with Spotshotter is it seems unlikely to put a dent in the public’s arsenal. Multiple cities have chosen to dump the tech rather than continue to pay for false positives, altered shot reports, and nonexistent public safety increases.

The problem with the DHS is that it has already started spending money on a portable “Gunshot Detection System.” It’s capitalized for a reason. It’s a bespoke version of a product already offered by a company called [re-reads DHS press release] Shooter Detection Systems — a redesign of its [deep breath] Guardian Indoor Active Shooter Detection System.

According to the DHS’s PR team, the “enhanced” version of this off-the-shelf shot spotter will detect both sounds and light flashes, apparently aiming to reduce the number of false positives generated by acoustic-only detection systems… like the one offered by [coughs at first half of rebrand] SoundThinking, formerly ShotSpotter.

Whether adding “eyes” to “ears” to spot shots has accomplished a reduction in false positives is still an open question. Whether or not the DHS should continue to pay for shot spotting tech — namely the one offered by the former ShotSpotter — is exactly the question these four lawmakers would like the DHS Inspector General to answer.

The question — as posed in this letter [PDF] from Sen. Ed Markey, Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Congressperson Ayanna Pressley — is a bit leading perhaps. But the question is valid and the lawmakers’ letter contains plenty of evidence that lends validity to the question: should the DHS really be spending federal dollars on grants to local law enforcement agencies seeking to acquire ShotSpotter tech?

Several recent reports have cast substantial doubt on the accuracy and effectiveness of the “ShotSpotter” gunshot detection system and have raised serious questions about its contribution to unjustified surveillance and over-policing of Black, Brown, and Latino communities. Through the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant program, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides funding to localities to deploy the ShotSpotter system. We request that the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigate DHS’s spending of taxpayer dollars on ShotSpotter, including potential violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating based on race, color, and national origin.

And that’s only part of the problem. It’s not even necessarily a ShotSpotter problem per se, but a long-standing problem with law enforcement agencies, who almost always deploy new surveillance “solutions” in low-income neighborhoods, especially those heavily populated by minorities.

The other problem is more technical: the tech just doesn’t work as advertised. Multiple investigations have shown the tech is either (1) unable to reliably detect gunshots, or (2) doesn’t lead to better enforcement of gun-related crime. The cities now dumping the tech say it’s both unreliable and useless. Of course, SoundThinking/ShotSpotter insists otherwise in responses to the latest negative reporting and in its marketing materials, which are still somehow capable of convincing government entities to buy its tech.

That’s where the DHS comes in. It offers grant money to law enforcement agencies — funding that can be used to purchase acoustic gunshot detection tech. The biggest brand in the business is SoundThinking, so naturally that’s where most of this funding goes.

In Massachusetts alone, “UASI [Urban Area Security Initiative] has funded almost a decade of contracts for gunshot detection technology with ShotSpotter in Cambridge, Chelsea, Somerville, and Boston.” Since 2012, according to city records, Boston has spent more than $4 million on ShotSpotter. Elsewhere, municipalities across the country have used UASI funds for the ShotSpotter system. One study found that “[t]hrough an analysis of UASI funding in Los Angeles, Boston, New York City, and Chicago . . . cities spend millions of UASI dollars on contracts with surveillance corporations” such as ShotSpotter.

And what are we getting in return for this combination of federal and local spending? Not much.

The ShotSpotter system’s ineffectiveness has consequences for law enforcement, community response, and the prevention of gun violence. A 2021 study from the Journal of Public Health found “that implementing ShotSpotter technology has no significant impact on firearm-related homicides or arrest outcomes” and that “[p]olicy solutions may represent a more cost-effective measure to reduce urban firearm violence.” Another study from the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University concluded “that more than 90% of ShotSpotter alerts lead police to find no evidence to corroborate gunfire when police arrive at the location ShotSpotter sent them: no shooting, no shell casings, no victims, no witnesses, no guns recovered.

Not great. More bad stuff from studies and reports: 70% of people in neighborhoods with ShotSpotter systems are either black or Latino. 75% of those neighborhoods had annual incomes well below the national median.

As I stated above, this is a cop problem: the long-held biases that subject the same people to any new surveillance option. The rest of it is a ShotSpotter problem: it doesn’t spot shots and it doesn’t stop crime. And yet, millions are being spent on it every year, with some of the funding flowing directly from the DHS.

The main point of this letter, however, is to nudge DHS oversight to take a close look at the end result of this funding in terms of purchasing ShotSpotter tech. The federal government is forbidden from spending money on anything that violates federal laws. And this funding might be doing that. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids recipients of federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Does planting most of your shot-spotting mics in predominately non-white neighborhoods violate the Civil Rights Act?

Well, that’s what these lawmakers hope to find out.

For all the preceding reasons, we respectfully request that you open an investigation in DHS’s funding of the ShotSpotter system to determine whether it is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars, including the critical question of whether such funding may lead to Title VI violations.

It will likely be awhile before we hear back on this. But given what’s already been discovered via studies, public records requests, and investigative journalism, it certainly looks as though cops with this tech are violating the law. And one would expect another investigation into ShotSpotter use is going to turn up more of the same biased policing. If that’s the case, it won’t stop cops from being racist. But it will mean they’ll have to spend local funds to keep minorities under their tech-enhanced thumbs.

Can you hear that sound—sort of like a brushing, friction-y noise? That’s the sound of me rubbing my hands together with devilish glee as I realize that I can finally write about hockey on Kotaku dot com thanks to Ninja and his latest Twitch stream.

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YubiKeys are the de facto standard for hardware authentication devices. They are found everywhere, from big businesses to the keychains of security-savvy professionals. They're one of the biggest upgrades you can make to reduce your risk profile for all sorts of online attacks. While not as affordable as some other alternatives, they're durable and long-lasting, and will easily serve you for many years. Here are some of the reasons why we think you should get a YubiKey.

Well, swaggle me horns and fasten me timbers so they stop shivering like that, because the noise is quite irritating. Welcome back to another edition of Plundertales - my quest to conquer strategy game Total War: Warhammer 3 without ever stepping foot on dry land. If you don’t know the other rules by now, I can only assume you’ve been living under an extremely specific type of rock that changes nothing about your life except preventing you from reading the previous two editions of this column. Who would carve such a rock? How would it even work? These are lubber-tier queries and shall remain unanswered, because it’s plundering time. Avast!

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I can’t tell you about Animal Well’s best moments. That’s because doing so would spoil the magic of discovering them for yourself, and because I still haven’t uncovered all of them yet either. I went into Animal Well hoping for a fun, evocative trip through a beautiful, lo-fi underground labyrinth. What I got was so…

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Koei Tecmo announced that a collaboration with PSO2: New Genesis will bring characters from the Atelier Ryza and Atelier Marie games to Sega’s action-MMORPG. It was also revealed that the collaboration will receive a worldwide simultaneous release.

More details about the collaboration as well as its official release date will be announced at a later date. The collaboration was originally announced during the latest broadcast celebrating the half-year anniversary of the Japanese release of Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator. Specifically, the two games that will be featured in PSO2: New Genesis as part of the upcoming event are Atelier Ryza 3 and Atelier Marie Remake.

In other Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis news, Sega revealed new details about the Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis second collaboration with Nijisanji Vtubers at the end of January 2024. Additionally, Ryza and Marie also appear as guest hero characters in the Atelier Resleriana free-to-play mobile and PC games.

Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis is immediately available on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. A Nintendo Switch version is available in Japan only via cloud streaming. Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator is immediately available on Android and iOS devices, as well as PC via Steam.

The post Atelier Ryza and Marie Headed to PSO2 New Genesis appeared first on Siliconera.