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AppWizard
July 5, 2025
Call of Duty: WW2 has been added to Xbox Game Pass, but PC players are cautioned against playing it due to significant risks, including a decline in player engagement and the presence of hackers. Older titles, like WW2, are particularly vulnerable as Activision offers limited support, making them targets for malicious actors. Reports indicate that hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities, such as remote code execution (RCE) exploits, which can lead to unauthorized control over players' machines. Incidents have been reported where players experienced unexpected shutdowns and intrusive pop-ups, including inappropriate content. While no confirmed cases of data theft have emerged, the potential for malware remains a concern. Players are advised to avoid online matches in Call of Duty: WW2 on PC until an official resolution is provided.
AppWizard
July 5, 2025
Stephen "Blue" Heaslip established Blue's News in the 1990s, driven by a passion for gaming rather than profit. The site has maintained a consistent output, with Heaslip posting 12,313 articles last year alone, and has only gone 22 days without a post since July 1996, achieving a 99.8% hit rate. Heaslip has authored 94% of the site's content, which has garnered over a billion views. Despite facing personal challenges, such as a car accident in 2021, he continued to deliver content using voice recognition software. Heaslip has turned down offers from major media outlets, prioritizing the relationship with his readers and the intrinsic value of writing.
AppWizard
July 4, 2025
Custom NPC+ is a mod for Minecraft 1.7.10 that enhances player interaction by adding non-player characters (NPCs) and includes features such as the creation of NPCs with customizable skins and items, a quest creation system, a dialog system, a faction system, and distinct roles for NPCs. The author conducted an error analysis using the PVS-Studio static code analyzer, discovering several issues: 1. Localization issues in GuiMailbox.java related to singular and plural forms for minutes. 2. Integer division in JobHealer.java that caused loss of precision in Y-coordinate calculations. 3. Flawed regular expression in TextContainer.java for replacing line-break characters, leading to handling issues across platforms. 4. A logical error in ScriptDBCPlayer.java where a variable was compared to itself, causing unexpected behavior. 5. A mix-up between "and" and "or" operators in Availability.java that rendered certain exception conditions unreachable. The analysis aimed to improve the quality of the Custom NPC+ mod and highlighted the importance of attention to detail in software development.
AppWizard
July 4, 2025
The developers at Landcrab released a patch for their game, Peak, which initially caused access issues for some players. They have since reintroduced a refined version of the patch that retains the original fixes while resolving the access problems. The new patch enhances stability for reconnecting to games after disconnections and includes various other improvements. The developers are also updating the End User License Agreement (EULA) and are encouraging players to report any bugs.
AppWizard
July 4, 2025
Valve Corporation, founded in 1996 by Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington, is known for its influential role in the gaming industry, particularly with its groundbreaking title Half-Life, released in 1998. The company has a unique corporate structure and impressive revenue-per-employee metrics, reportedly exceeding .9 million. Valve's Steam platform, launched in 2003, dominates the PC gaming market, accounting for approximately 70% of sales in a sector valued at around billion, with over 100,000 titles available. Steam had an estimated 170 million active monthly users by May 2023. Financially, estimates suggest Steam may have handled around .3 billion in game sales in 2021, yielding a profit of approximately .6 billion from commissions. Valve's employee culture emphasizes self-organization and innovation, though it faces scrutiny regarding content moderation and legal challenges related to market competition.
AppWizard
July 3, 2025
Samsung is enhancing the security features of its Galaxy smartphones through the Knox security framework, particularly with the Secure Folder that requires additional authentication for sensitive content. The recent One UI 8 update introduces new controls for quick access to the Secure Folder, including the ability to hide the folder and associated apps. A new setting allows users to manage whether apps in the Secure Folder appear as sharing options in other applications, enabling content sharing from standard apps to those secured within the folder. The beta version of One UI 8, based on Android 16, has received positive feedback, with a significant release rolling out recently. Official announcements regarding the stable release are anticipated shortly after July 9.
AppWizard
July 3, 2025
Disney's Lilo & Stitch has surpassed Warner Bros and Legendary's A Minecraft Movie, becoming the highest-grossing MPA film of the year with 7.6 million globally, including 3.9 million from international markets. A Minecraft Movie has earned 4.9 million worldwide, with 0.9 million from abroad. Both films are the only ones to exceed 0 million in 2025. Lilo & Stitch is in its sixth week of release and is projected to be the first Hollywood film to gross over a billion dollars this year. However, A Minecraft Movie remains the highest-grossing film in the U.S. with 3.9 million, compared to Lilo & Stitch's 3.7 million. Lilo & Stitch has performed well in various international markets, with top earnings in Mexico (.1 million), the UK (.1 million), and France (.8 million). It is the highest-grossing film of 2025 in multiple countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico. The film opened domestically with 2.6 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, marking the largest opening of its kind in history. The original Lilo & Stitch film has generated over 579 million hours of viewing on Disney+, with more than 306 million hours attributed to the original film. Retail sales for Stitch merchandise have increased significantly, from [openai_gpt model="gpt-4o-mini" prompt="Summarize the content and extract only the fact described in the text bellow. The summary shall NOT include a title, introduction and conclusion. Text: EXCLUSIVE: Disney’s Lilo & Stitch continues to dominate the box office, recently surpassing Warner Bros and Legendary’s pixelated adventure, A Minecraft Movie. With a remarkable 7.6 million in global earnings and 3.9 million from international markets, Lilo & Stitch has secured its position as the highest-grossing MPA film of the year to date. In comparison, A Minecraft Movie has amassed 4.9 million worldwide, with 0.9 million coming from abroad. As of now, these two films are the only ones to have crossed the 0 million threshold in 2025. Currently in its sixth week of release, Lilo & Stitch is on track to become the first Hollywood title to gross over a billion dollars this year. However, it’s worth noting that A Minecraft Movie still holds the title for the highest-grossing film in the United States, with 3.9 million, compared to Lilo & Stitch’s 3.7 million. Both films have successfully crossed the 0 million mark domestically. Industry Insights As the box office rebounds in the post-COVID landscape, studios are gaining renewed confidence in the theatrical experience. A significant trend emerging from this resurgence is the lucrative potential of nostalgic female-centric properties. Films like Lilo & Stitch (62% female audience), How to Train Your Dragon (50% female audience), and the anticipated Moana 2 (71% female audience) highlight this trend. With this in mind, all eyes are now on Disney’s upcoming sequel, Freakier Friday, featuring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, set to release on August 8. To date, Lilo & Stitch has performed exceptionally well in various international markets, with top territories including Mexico (.1 million), the UK (.1 million), and France (.8 million). It has already become the highest-grossing film of 2025 in several countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico, as well as across all Latin American markets. In addition to its impressive box office performance, Lilo & Stitch has made its mark in the all-time industry rankings in Brazil and Mexico, along with the broader Latin American region. Notably, it has also become the highest-grossing Disney live-action title of all time in Mexico and several smaller markets. The film opened domestically with a staggering 2.6 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, marking the largest opening of its kind in history, surpassing Top Gun: Maverick’s previous record of 0.5 million. Among all four-day holiday weekend openings, Lilo & Stitch ranks second only to Black Panther, which achieved 2 million during the President’s Day weekend in 2018. Disney’s decision to create a live-action adaptation of the beloved 2002 animated classic was a strategic move, especially considering the original film’s 5.7 million domestic and 4.7 million worldwide gross. The Lilo & Stitch franchise has since generated over 579 million hours of viewing on Disney+ globally, with the original film accounting for more than 306 million hours. Retail sales for Stitch merchandise have skyrocketed from [cyberseo_openai model="gpt-4o-mini" prompt="Rewrite a news story for a business publication, in a calm style with creativity and flair based on text below, making sure it reads like human-written text in a natural way. The article shall NOT include a title, introduction and conclusion. The article shall NOT start from a title. Response language English. Generate HTML-formatted content using tag for a sub-heading. You can use only , , , , and HTML tags if necessary. Text: EXCLUSIVE: Disney’s A Lilo & Stitch continues to upend the box office with the duo taking out Warner Bros and Legendary’s pigs and chickens pixelated pic A Minecraft Movie to become the highest grossing MPA movie year-to-date with $957.6 million worldwide and $553.9 million international. A Minecraft Movie stands at $954.9M million worldwide and $530.9M abroad. They are the only two movies to surpass $900M currently in 2025. Lilo & Stich is currently in its sixth week at the box office. Note the Dean Fleischer Camp directed movie is still on track to become the first billion-dollar grossing Hollywood title of 2025. Also, in all fairness to A Minecraft Movie, they’re still the highest grossing movie stateside with $423.9M to Lilo & Stitch‘s $403.7M. They’re also the only two pics to cross the four century mark stateside. Watch on Deadline As the box office in post Covid and strike times provides more confidence to studios about the potency of theatrical, here’s another big takeaway for the industry, and that’s that there’s big business in beloved nostalgic female properties, i.e. Lilo & Stitch (62% women), How to Train Your Dragon (50% women) and Moana 2 (71%). No pressure, Disney, but all eyes are on the sequel Freakier Friday with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan on Aug. 8. To date, Lilo & Stitch top territories are as follows: Mexico ($66.1M), UK ($47.1M), France ($39.8M), Brazil ($36M), Germany ($30.2M), Spain ($25.9M), China ($25.2M), Italy ($24.5M), Argentina ($19M), Australia ($18.8M), Japan ($16.3M) and Central America ($15.8M). Lilo & Stitch is already the highest grossing film of 2025 in France, Italy, Spain, Brazil and Mexico as well as all the Latin American countries and many other markets. Lilo & Stitch is in the top all-time industry lists of such markets as Brazil and Mexico as well as the Latin America region as a whole. It’s also the highest grossing Disney live-action title of all-time in Mexico as well as several smaller markets. Lilo & Stitch opened domestically to $182.6M 4-day, repping the biggest 4-day Memorial Day weekend opening of all time, ahead of Top Gun Maverick’s $160.5M. Across all 4-day holiday weekend openings, Lilo & Stitch had the second biggest ever, only behind Black Panther‘s $242M (President’s Day Wknd 2018). As we’ve always noted, it was logical that Disney would make a live-action take of the 2002 animated movie (which only made $145.7M domestic, $274.7M worldwide). The Lilo & Stitch franchise in series and the original pic has driven over 579 million hours on Disney+ around the globe. The original Lilo & Stitch has accounted for more than 306M hours of viewing on the OTT service. Disney+ global. Retail sales for Stitch have grown from $0.2B in 2019 to $2.6B in 2024, representing a ten-fold increase. Stitch is one of 11 evergreen franchises for the Walt Disney Company that has surpassed $1B in retail sales last year (Stitch being in the top 10). A live-action sequel was announced last week." temperature="0.3" top_p="1.0" best_of="1" presence_penalty="0.1" ].2 billion in 2019 to an impressive .6 billion in 2024, reflecting a tenfold increase. Stitch remains one of Disney's 11 evergreen franchises that surpassed billion in retail sales last year, placing it firmly within the top 10. A live-action sequel was announced just last week, further solidifying the franchise's enduring appeal." max_tokens="3500" temperature="0.3" top_p="1.0" best_of="1" presence_penalty="0.1" frequency_penalty="frequency_penalty"].2 billion in 2019 to .6 billion in 2024.
AppWizard
July 3, 2025
The Epic Games Store is offering two free games for PC gamers until July 10. Players who claim them during this period will retain access indefinitely. The first game is Backpack Hero, developed by Jaspel, which has a Metacritic score of 76 and an 86% approval rating on Steam from nearly 7,000 players. It offers 10 to 60 hours of gameplay and features a deck-building roguelike mechanic focused on item organization within a backpack. The second game is Figment, created by Bedtime Digital Games, with a Metacritic score of 77 and an 87% approval rating on Steam from over 1,000 reviews. It provides 5 to 6 hours of gameplay and is set in a whimsical, musical action-adventure within the human mind, where players solve puzzles to confront nightmares.
AppWizard
July 3, 2025
Capcom's fiscal year report for April 2024 to March 2025 reveals a 61.1% increase in revenue from Steam game sales, with over 28 million copies sold. Console game sales have declined, with PlayStation revenue dropping below 10%. The release of Monster Hunter Wilds contributed significantly to revenue, selling over 10 million copies in its first month. Despite strong sales, the game has received "Overwhelmingly Negative" reviews on Steam due to performance issues and lack of challenge. Capcom is addressing player feedback with free updates and new content. The company is optimistic about its upcoming title, Resident Evil Requiem, and aims to improve optimization and quality in future releases.
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