Microsoft has completed its deal to buy Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard in the biggest deal in gaming history. The $68.7 billion acquisition means the Xbox maker now owns games such as World of Warcraft and Diablo, as well as the Call of Duty series. Microsoft first announced the deal at the start of 2022. Since then it has faced intense scrutiny from regulators around the world – but the final of those investigations, from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, closed earlier on Friday. The process has forced Microsoft to make public commitments that its games will still be available on other platforms, such as PlayStation and the Nintendo Switch. “As one team, we’ll learn, innovate, and continue to deliver on our promise to bring the joy and community of gaming to more people,” said Xbox boss Phil Spencer. “We’ll do this in a culture that strives to empower everyone to do their best work, where all people are welcome, and is centered on our ongoing commitment of Gaming for Everyone. “We are intentional about inclusion in everything we do at Xbox – from our team to the products we make and the stories we tell, to the way our players interact and engage as a wider gaming community.” Microsoft has said that the deal will bring Activision’s games alongside its first-party offerings, including adding its titles to Xbox’s Game Pass subscription service. “Together, we’ll create new worlds and stories, bring your favourite games to more places so more players can join in, and we’ll engage with and delight players in new, innovative ways in the places they love to play including mobile, cloud streaming and more,” Mr Spencer said in the announcement. Read More Microsoft gets go-ahead to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Google is about to ditch passwords forever EU to investigate X’s handling of disinformation over Hamas attack on Israel

The best MW3 weapons to level up for Call of Duty: Warzone 3.0 are the Bas-B, MTZ-556, and Rival-9. The weapons will dominate the meta come Dec. 6.

Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones has spoken about the growing use of artificial intelligence in music saying that “art should come from people”. The 49-year-old lead singer of the rock band which formed in Wales in 1992 also questioned the move towards multiple songwriters on a release. Jones spoke to Times Radio at Latitude Festival in Henham Park, Suffolk, on Sunday after he played with his new band Far From Saints. The Welsh musician said he had not realised until attending the Ivor Novello Awards that AI technology is being increasingly used to “finish off people’s songwriting”. He also said: “I’m not against forward-thinking technology and how things are progressing, but I think art should come from people, I mean the basics of it anyway. “I think art has always been somebody’s expression, a real person’s expression from a heart, from a head. “If you’re going to start an idea, then a computer finishes it, I mean, it’s OK, but it’s just about algorithms and things like that, it’s not my personal feeling on where it should come from. “I’m not really into 10 songwriters on a song. “It’s like if you’re making painting, you’ve got 10 painters chucking paint on a canvas, I mean, whose f****** painting is it anymore?” Far From Saints have been touring festivals after releasing Let’s Turn This Back Around earlier this year. Jones, who set up his new band with Patty Lynn of The Wind And The Wave, said since the pandemic and the UK’s break from the European Union it has become harder to make money from music. He said: “It’s kind of a nightmare with… Brexit and all that sort of stuff. “So it’s a very different place since Brexit, since Covid, since all of that stuff. “So it’s not easy to make a living of it if you’re a brand new kid coming out onto the street, ‘just let’s get in a van and go make music’ – it’s kind of hard.” There has been a mixed response to the technology in the music business, with country star Dolly Parton voicing concerns about AI while Black Eyed Peas member Will.i.am has taken an optimistic view on new music software. Last month, Parton told a press event: “I think I’ve left a great body of work behind. “I have to decide how much of that high-tech stuff I want to be involved because I don’t want to leave my soul here on this Earth.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live TikTok is now most favourable single source of news in UK teenagers, research shows Talk of AI dangers has ‘run ahead of the technology’, says Nick Clegg Eurostar passengers can avoid UK passport checks by having faces scanned

The Biden administration unveiled plans Friday to hold three auctions for offshore drilling rights over the next five

Antstream Arcade is heading to the Xbox next week.

By Dietrich Knauth NEW YORK Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX on Monday sued the parents of founder Sam Bankman-Fried,

A plan to prevent Milwaukee from going bankrupt is expected to win bipartisan approval in the Wisconsin Legislature

An Indian tax panel on Wednesday decided to move ahead with the goods and services tax on online

Ice T has confessed to spending lots of money on progression in a zombie mobile game.

Top Chinese officials told Elon Musk about plans to launch new regulations on artificial intelligence on his recent trip to the Asian giant, the tech billionaire said Monday, in his...

By Gwladys Fouche OSLO (Reuters) -Norway's data regulator will refer the ongoing fine it has imposed on Meta Platforms to

If you're interested in watching some seriously strong individuals lift extremely heavy weights, you should