Netflix has announced the closure of Night School Studios and its Helsinki-based Moonloot studio shortly after the launch of its latest title, Unhinged. Night School Studios, acquired in 2021, was known for its storytelling in games like Oxenfree and Afterparty. The closure follows the dissolution of Team Blue, indicating a strategic pivot for Netflix in its gaming operations. Additionally, Netflix is seeking a new Director of Generative AI for Games, offering a salary of up to 0,000, reflecting a trend towards integrating AI technologies in gaming. The company is also implementing broader cuts within its gaming division to streamline operations.
Google has enhanced its Database Migration Service with AI-assisted code conversion for PostgreSQL migrations from commercial databases. This feature addresses the challenge of converting stored procedures, triggers, and custom functions written in proprietary languages. The new workflow allows users to view original source code alongside suggested PostgreSQL PL/pgSQL output, enabling inline explanations, code editing, and validation before deployment.
The service analyzes schema context across the migration project, considering table relationships and data types. It combines rule-based conversion with AI-generated suggestions and includes PostgreSQL syntax validation. The conversion process remains within the customer's Google Cloud project, adhering to security protocols.
This feature aims to reduce the time for code conversion from months to days, allowing database specialists to focus on verification and application modifications. Once validated, the converted code can be applied to staging systems for testing before live migration.
AWS's Aurora PostgreSQL service became generally available in 2017 and has evolved into an AI-ready offering with features like vector search and integrations with Amazon Bedrock. Google Cloud launched AlloyDB in 2022, which includes AlloyDB AI with vector search and model interaction. Databricks introduced Lakebase, available on AWS and Azure in 2023, while Snowflake released Snowflake Postgres in February 2026. Microsoft announced HorizonDB at Ignite in November 2025, featuring disaggregated compute and storage, a database-as-log design, native vector search, and integration with Foundry and Fabric.
The Czech Republic and Japan formed a bond during the 2023 World Baseball Cup when the Czech national baseball team, mostly made up of amateur players, played against Japan and lost 2-10. The Czech pitcher Ondrej Satoria struck out Shohei Ohtani, earning admiration from Japanese fans. In a related development, Japanese developer Eba Game is launching a game called Ball Boy Simulator on Steam, which includes Czech language support due to a request from a Czech user. The game explores the psychological horror of high school baseball clubs and incorporates AI-generated content for various elements. The quality of localization for the Czech audience is yet to be determined.
The Czech Republic and Japan developed a bond during the 2023 World Baseball Cup, where the Czech team, mainly amateur players, lost 2-10 to Japan but impressed fans, particularly when pitcher Ondrej Satoria struck out Shohei Ohtani. Japanese developer Eba Game is launching a game called Ball Boy Simulator on Steam, incorporating Czech language support due to a single Czech fan's interest. The game, a psychological horror experience about high school baseball clubs, uses AI-generated content for various aspects of its development.
The technology behind Half-Life, known as GoldSrc, is a modified version of the Quake engine, and remnants of Quake code are present in Valve's Source 2. A modder named KleskBY is developing a project called Libre-life, which aims to port elements from Half-Life into Quake source ports, particularly focusing on the Zircon Engine. KleskBY believes that older engines like GoldSrc have limitations that hinder creativity and prefers using Quake source ports over Xash3D, arguing that they offer capabilities that Xash does not. Libre-life is in early development, with progress including the reimplementation of all weapons from Half-Life 1. KleskBY uses AI extensively in the project, despite expressing strong negative opinions about AI's broader implications.
Google Photos has updated its app to allow users to capture photos and directly access AI editing tools without switching between the camera app and Google Photos. The new workflow enables users to take photos within the Google Photos app and immediately transition to the editing interface, streamlining the editing process. This update does not introduce new editing features but reduces the steps needed to access existing tools like Magic Editor and Reimagine.
Sjoerd De Jong left Epic Games after 12 years as the lead evangelist for Unreal in June. He plans to create his own game engine, tentatively named Immens, to address the complexities of established engines like Unreal and Unity. De Jong believes there is a need for a modern engine designed from the ground up and envisions incorporating large language models and generative AI tools into the gaming ecosystem. He aims for Immens to be adaptable for AI integration while emphasizing the importance of developers in maintaining the artistry of game creation.
