Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Call of Duty: Mobile is getting an esports tournament with $1 million in prizes

Call of Duty: Mobile has quickly grown to become one of the biggest games in the world, and soon it will have a competitive tournament to match. Today, Activision revealed the Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship 2020 Tournament, a lengthy esports tournament that features more than $1 million in total prizes, which include both cash and in-game cosmetics.

Online qualifiers for the tournament kick off on April 30th and will run through May 24th, after which the tournament will begin. Details — like the structure of the tournament, how prizes will work, and where fans can watch — are slight at the moment, but you can find out how to qualify here.

The free-to-play, mobile Call of Duty spinoff became a breakout hit last year, racking up a...

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source https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/22/21231392/call-of-duty-mobile-esports-tournament-schedule-prize-money
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Chinese EV startup Byton furloughs hundreds in the US

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge

Chinese EV startup Byton is furloughing more than 200 workers at its North American headquarters in Santa Clara, California due to the coronavirus pandemic, and is reevaluating its plans to launch its first vehicle later this year.

“Given the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global economy and the hit that the auto industry is taking, we like others have had to take measures to weather the hard times ahead,” the company said in a statement to Electrek, which first reported the news. “Our production timeline will no doubt be impacted. We are evaluating that impact.”

Byton closed its factory in Nanjing, China earlier this year as the country attempted to stop the spread of the virus, though it says work picked back up in...

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source https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/22/21231344/chinese-ev-startup-byton-furloughs-us-employees
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Westworld gets renewed for a fourth season on HBO

Photo: HBO

Westworld has been renewed for a fourth season, HBO announced today, meaning that the sometimes infuriatingly complicated science-fiction / Western series will continue to enthrall viewers with its violent delights for another season, via Variety.

The third season of the series was a reinvention of sorts, moving the action outside of the titular Westworld theme park and out into the “real” world, where the rebellious robots (namely, Evan Rachel Wood’s Delores) are working to ensure their ascension by eliminating mankind. Despite the new spin on the show, ratings for the series have plummeted compared to the previous two seasons, with viewers down 57 percent for the premiere this year compared to season 2.

Still, Westworld is one of...

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source https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/22/21231327/westworld-season-4-hbo-renewal-robots-tv-show
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Google Meet’s Zoom-like gallery view is rolling out now globally

Google Meet’s new Zoom-like gallery view is rolling out across the globe “gradually” starting today, the company said in a blog post. Previously, you were only able to see four people on-screen at a time, but with Meet’s new tiled layout, you’ll be able to see 16 call participants at once. Google announced the feature was on the way last week.

Zoom’s gallery view is still able to show more participants than Meet’s — it’s possible to see the thumbnails of up to 49 people at once on Zoom, depending on how powerful your CPU is — but Meet’s jump to letting you see up to 16 people at once is a nice improvement.

Last week, Google also promised that Meet would let you present a single Chrome...

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source https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/22/21231294/google-meet-gallery-tiled-view-roll-out-globally-zoom
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Pussy Riot, Idles to play Minecraft virtual festival ‘Block by Blockwest’

Idles Perform at Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow Photo by Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns

Punk acts like Pussy Riot and Idles will be logging into Minecraft on Saturday to play sets for the Block by Blockwest online music festival to raise money for novel coronavirus relief efforts.

The event is being organized by a group called the Courier Club, and it starts at 3PM ET. Around two dozen bands will play shows at the festival including Pussy Riot, Idles, Citizen, Nothing, Nowhere, Sir Sly, Cherry Glazerr, and Wicca Phase Springs Eternal. All proceeds will go to the CDC Foundation, a nonprofit created by Congress to raise money for coronavirus relief.

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source https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/22/21231359/pussy-riot-idles-minecraft-festival-block-by-blockwest
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