The distribution rights to Warner Bros. Japan's animated adaptation of
All You Need is a theatrical release date.
All You Need Is Kill — Hiroshi Sakurazaka's 2004 sci-fi novel that inspired Edge of Tomorrow — have been acquired acquired by Gkids. The company plans to put the film in theaters ' soon.'
Gkids Acquires Multiple Territories For Japanese Action Sci-Fi Animated Feature 'All You Need Is Kill' – Annecy
[deadline.com]
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Digital Trends
24 minutes ago
- Digital Trends
The Switch 2's power and popularity are a double-edged sword for the industry
If I were a betting man, I would've put down everything I had on the Nintendo Switch 2 being a smash hit. It doesn't take an industry analyst to make that call so I don't give myself too much credit, but seeing it break all these early sales numbers has still been a bit of a shock. While I personally wish that Nintendo had done a bit more to make this console launch feel more special, it was clearly the safe move to make as direct an upgrade as possible over the wildly popular Switch to ride that wave. Last generation, third parties were far more hesitant to support the Switch right out of the gate. Nintendo was at its lowest point in history, coming off the debacle that was the Wii U, so it made sense to take a more wait-and-see approach to Nintendo's next console. Once it became clear that this little hybrid system had struck gold, we started seeing all these 'impossible' ports hitting the console to capitalize. We're already seeing that the industry at large — with the notable exceptions of Xbox and PlayStation — doesn't intend to make the same mistake twice. But that may have rippling consequences for everyone, not just Switch 2 players. Adjusting the bar Game development is complicated. If there's one thing that must be stressed upfront, it's that. I don't pretend to know the intricacies and discussions that happen behind the scenes, and fully recognize that development and porting processes are different from studio to studio and game to game. This article is mainly me ruminating on different ways I predict the Switch 2's success could impact games moving forward. Recommended Videos What set off this entire thought process for me was wondering how different the rest of this generation will look compared to the last when more studios will opt to develop their games with the Switch 2 hardware in mind. There were plenty of games that came out cross-platform right away on Switch and PS5, but a wide swath either started on Switch and later came to other platforms or vice versa. From what I understand, and how it appears from the outside, porting a game is a very different process than developing it from the ground up with that platform in mind. If more teams are looking to get in on the runaway success that is the Switch 2, then it would make sense to launch on that platform simultaneously with the others if possible. It might seem like a purely negative situation for devs to build games with weaker hardware in mind, but I disagree. In fact, I think we saw just the opposite for the majority of the PS5 generation thus far. Much to the chagrin of a certain segment of the fanbase, most of PlayStation's first party games have been available on PS4 and PS5, including God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon: Forbidden West. I have no proof to back this up, but I think that it is because these games were developed with the PS4 in mind that they played so smoothly on PS5. The latter had the option to run at 4K 30 or a dynamic 1800p at 60, while the former had similar settings plus a 120Hz mode. I'm clearly cherry-picking here since Sony's first party teams clearly have a deeper knowledge of the hardware, plus don't have to worry about porting to completely different systems. Add in other variables like game engines, budgets, and time, and this is by no means a sure thing. All I mean to show is that there is evidence to suggest that a lower-powered SKU can have a positive impact on games also available on stronger systems. There's also the dream of the Switch 2 being the universal console handheld. We've seen plenty of other handhelds enter the space since the first Switch, with Xbox partnering with ROG to release one later this year and rumors of a PlayStation handheld coinciding with the PS6 also on the table, but the market is still niche for everyone but Nintendo. If everyone jumps aboard the Switch 2 train, it could become the default portable system for everything but exclusives, which are already on their way to going extinct. I promised that there was a negative to all this by calling it a double-edged sword, so it's time to take off my optimistic goggles for a minute. The easiest stone to throw at my prior argument is that teams could treat the Switch 2 similarly to the Switch 1 and worry about crunching down their game after the fact to fit on the hardware. As impressive as some ports like Doom, The Witcher 3, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance are to even exist on the Switch, they came at the cost of some massive concessions. There are even worse examples like Mortal Kombat 1 that really drive this point home. Besides just looking and playing worse than its console counterparts, we've also seen Switch games lack features compared to the other versions. In Civilization VII, for example, the Switch version could only play with four players in the Antiquity & Exploration Ages, or six in the Modern Age, as opposed to other platforms supporting five and eight players respectively. Scope and mechanical concessions are much harder pills to swallow compared to graphics of frame rates because the game is, objectively, lesser than the other versions. That is another possibility we could see taken with the Switch 2. So, which way will the dominoes end up falling? I think the only safe assumption I can make here is that we will see plenty of examples of both scenarios. It all comes down to the individual teams and dozens of factors we players may never be privy to on how development shakes out. I only hope that we see more end up on the positive side of things than the negative.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Grok 4's new AI companion offers up ‘pornographic productivity'
The most controversial AI platform is arguably the one founded by Elon Musk. The chatbot Grok has spewed racist and antisemitic comments and called itself 'MechaHitler,' referring to a character from a video game. 'Mecha' is generally a term for giant robots, usually inhabited for warfare, and is prominent in Japanese science-fiction comics. Grok originally referred to Musk when asked for its opinions, and burst into unprompted racist historical revisionism, like the false concept of 'white genocide' in South Africa. Its confounding and contradictory politicism continues to develop. These are all alarming aspects of Grok. Another concerning element to Grok 4 is a new feature of social interactions with 'virtual friends' on its premium version. The realm of human loneliness, with its increasing reliance on large language models (LLMs) to replace social interaction, has made room for Grok 4 with AI companions, an upgrade available to paid subscribers. Specifically, Grok subscribers can now access the functionality of generative AI intertwined with patriarchal notions of pleasure — what I call 'pornographic productivity.' Grok and Japanese anime Ani, Grok 4's most-discussed AI companion, represents a convergence of Japanese anime and internet culture. Ani bears a striking resemblance to Misa Amane from the iconic Japanese anime Death Note. Misa Amane is a pop star who consistently demonstrates self-harming and illogical behaviour in pursuit of the male protagonist, a brilliant young man engaged in a battle of wits with his rival. Musk referenced the anime as a favourite in a tweet in 2021. While anime is a vast art form with numerous tropes, genres and fandoms, research has shown that online anime fandoms are rife with misogyny and women-exclusionary discourse. Even the most mainstream shows have been criticized for sexualizing prepubescent characters and offering unnecessary 'fan service' in hypersexualized character design and nonconsensual plot points. Death Note's creator, Tsugumi Ohba, has consistently been critiqued by fans for anti-feminist character design. Journalists have pointed out Ani's swift eagerness to engage in romantic and sexually charged conversations. Ani is depicted with a voluptuous figure, blonde pigtails and a lacy black dress, which she frequently describes in user interactions. The problem with pornographic productivity I use the term 'pornographic productivity,' inspired by critiques of Grok as 'pornified,' to describe a troubling trend where tools initially designed for work evolve into parasocial relationships catering to emotional and psychological needs, including gendered interactions. Grok's AI companions feature exemplifies this phenomenon, blurring critical boundaries. The appeal is clear. Users can theoretically exist in 'double time,' relaxing while their AI avatars manage tasks, and this is already a reality within AI models. But this seductive promise masks serious risks: dependency, invasive data extraction and the deterioration of real human relational skills. Read more: When such companions, already created for minimizing caution and building trust, come with sexual objectification and embedded cultural references to docile femininity, the risks enter another realm of concern. Grok 4 users have remarked that the addition of sexualized characters with emotionally validating language is quite unusual for mainstream large language models. This is because these tools, like ChatGPT and Claude, are often used by all ages. While we are in the early stages of seeing the true impact of advanced chatbots on minors, particularly teenagers with mental health struggles, the case studies we do have are grimly dire. 'Wife drought' Drawing from feminist scholars Yolande Strengers and Jenny Kennedy's concept of the 'smart wife,' Grok's AI companions appear to respond to what they term a 'wife drought' in contemporary society. These technologies step in to perform historically feminized labour as women increasingly assert their right to refuse exploitative dynamics. In fact, online users have already deemed Ani a 'waifu' character, which is a play on the Japanese pronunciation of wife. AI companions are appealing partly because they cannot refuse or set boundaries. They perform undesirable labour under the illusion of choice and consent. Where real relationships require negotiation and mutual respect, AI companions offer a fantasy of unconditional availability and compliance. Data extraction through intimacy In the meantime, as tech journalist Karen Hao noted, the data and privacy implications of LLMs are already staggering. When rebranded in the form of personified characters, they are more likely to capture intimate details about users' emotional states, preferences and vulnerabilities. This information can be exploited for targeted advertising, behavioural prediction or manipulation. This marks a fundamental shift in data collection. Rather than relying on surveillance or explicit prompts, AI companions encourage users to divulge intimate details through seemingly organic conversation. South Korea's Iruda chatbot illustrates how these systems can become vessels for harassment and abuse when poorly regulated. Seemingly benign applications can quickly move into problematic territory when companies fail to implement proper safeguards. Read more: Previous cases also show that AI companions designed with feminized characteristics often become targets for corruption and abuse, mirroring broader societal inequalities in digital environments. Grok's companions aren't simply another controversial tech product. It's plausible to expect that other LLM platforms and big tech companies will soon experiment with their own characters in the near future. The collapse of the boundaries between productivity, companionship and exploitation demands urgent attention. The age of AI and government partnerships Despite Grok's troubling history, Musk's AI company xAI recently secured major government contracts in the United States. This new era of America's AI Action Plan, unveiled in July 2025, had this to say about biased AI: '[The White House will update] federal procurement guidelines to ensure that the government only contracts with frontier large language model developers who ensure that their systems are objective and free from top-down ideological bias.' Given the overwhelming instances of Grok's race-based hatred and its potential for replicating sexism in our society, its new government contract serves a symbolic purpose in an era of doublethink around bias. As Grok continues to push the envelope of 'pornographic productivity,' nudging users into increasingly intimate relationships with machines, we face urgent decisions that veer into our personal lives. We are beyond questioning whether AI is bad or good. Our focus should be on preserving what remains human about us. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organisation bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Jul Parke, University of Toronto Read more: How do you stop an AI model turning Nazi? What the Grok drama reveals about AI training Grok's antisemitic rant shows how generative AI can be weaponized From chatbot to sexbot: What lawmakers can learn from South Korea's AI hate-speech disaster Jul Parke receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada.
Forbes
4 hours ago
- Forbes
‘Operation Night Strikers' Switch Review: Light Gun Shmup Nostalgia
In a nice set of classic arcade light gun shmup games from Taito, Operation Night Strikers certainly delivers and even has a nice M2 sheen to it. Operation Night Strikers contains three typical light gun games and a special addition of sorts that technically fits into the genre. Specifically, this collection contains Operation Wolf, Operation Thunderbolt, Space Gun, and Night Striker, with the latter being closer to Space Harrier than a typical light gun game. Operation Wolf and Thunderbolt are pretty much classics in the genre, and had a massive following all over the world back when they hit the arcades in the 80s. Taking an almost Commando-esque approach to one-man body counts, Operation Wolf and Thunderbolt laid the groundwork for the more free-hand light gun games of Virtua Cop and Time Crisis that would follow. Space Gun was a much harder and more technical light gun game, with references to the Alien movies throughout. Even with its increased difficulty and complexity, the game was still a hit both in Japan and abroad. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Then we get to Night Striker. This was more akin to a crossover between Space Harrier and Outrun, as the car you piloted could also fly, and you had multiple routes through the game. Later stages also had the player's car transform, either into a mecha or a bike, so there was a lot going on. While the arcade version of Night Striker is regarded rather fondly in Japan, its Mega CD port was notoriously terrible, which this collection inexplicably includes, although as part of a separate DLC pack. That's the only real criticism of this collection: while the various arcade versions of these four games are included as standard, the various console ports of each are a separate paid DLC pack. I'm not sure why this route was taken, as it's the only thing that really holds this collection back. It would have made more sense to just include the console ports alongside the original arcade games for an increased price. So the extra DLC feels a bit off. That aside, M2 has done a gloriously good job with this collection. Having worked with M2 myself on Assault Suits Valken Declassified, I can testify to their passion and diligence when it comes to classic games such as these, and it's very much apparent here. Each game has built-in achievements and is highly customizable in terms of controls, regular stick or motion, and all sorts of screen options. Each of the games also have sidebars with all sorts of extra data on how you're doing, which is very handy on games like Operation Wolf. Night Striker also gets some special treatment with all the extra information thrown at you, which makes sense as M2 is in the process of making a proper sequel to Night Striker entitled Night Striker GEAR. Overall, Operation Night Strikers is an excellent collection of shmups from Taito's glory days in the arcades. It's a shame that the console ports are an additional DLC pack, but the core collection of games is still handled excellently by the retro game masters at M2. Operation Night Strikers Platform: Switch (Reviewed), PC Developer: M2 Publisher: Clear River Games Released: 7th August 2025 Price: $24.99 (DLC $19.99) Score: 9/10 Disclosure: Clear River Games sent me a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. While I have worked with M2 in the past, I have had no involvement with their work on this release. Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.
