Latest news with #DICE
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Battlefield 6 potential release date gets leaked
With the announcement of Battlefield 6 coming up shortly, the actual release date of the game might have been revealed by a leaker. BF6 is right now one of the most anticipated gaming titles and it is quite obvious keeping in mind a four year long gap in the Battlefield series. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Not only that, the last installment in the series, Battlefield 2042 was an absolute disaster. So, fans are really hoping to compensate for their experience from the last time. And with a potential release date leaked, the anticipation is reaching a whole new level now. Battlefield 6's probable release date is closer than you expect Recently, DICE has announced that on July 24, 2025, Battlefield 6 will officially be announced by a reveal trailer. Also, the developers have confirmed that they are thinking about hosting an open-beta playtesting phase who have missed their spots in the Battlefield Labs closed playtests and according to rumor, this upcoming playtest might be happening in the immediate next month. All of these signs are pointing towards only one thing - the release of Battlefield 6 is a lot closer than you expect. EA previously confirmed that BF6 was going to be released by March 2026. But due to GTA 6's imminent launch in 2026 or due to some other reasons, EA has shifted BF6's launch to 2025. Now a popular group of Battlefield dataminers named 1BF has claimed that Battlefield 6 is going to be launched on October 10, 2025. Despite avoiding the hype train of GTA 6 in 2026, if Battlefield 6 gets released in October, it will still clash with the likes of Ghost of Yotei and ARC Raiders, which hold a substantial amount of anticipation among the fans. That is why the dataminers have alerted the fans that the October 10 date 'may still be postponed' and advised us not to take this date as '100% truth.' Besides a potential release date, the datamining group has shared additional details about Battlefield 6. Just like its predecessor Battlefield 2042's Ultimate Edition, BF6 will have a Phantom Edition. The dataminers also claimed that Russian language might not be available in the upcoming game, because they didn't find any mention of that in their set of in-game data files which they were accessing. Read More:
Belfast Telegraph
a day ago
- General
- Belfast Telegraph
‘Our world was a better place with you in it': Loved ones celebrate life of Jaidyn Rice as hundreds attend funeral
St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Bangor was illuminated in pink, as the coffin and many mourners were adorned in Jaidyn Rice's favourite colour. Hundreds of funeral goers filled the Clandeboye Road hall for the teen's funeral on Wednesday to hear the deep connections she had formed with those around her and the 'big plans' her future held. The 16-year-old was struck by a car on the West Circular Road of Bangor on July 8 and was pronounced dead at the scene. The sermon saw a host of relatives, friends and volunteer groups with which she spent her time, such as the DICE project and Army Cadet Force (ACF), who all extended personal stories and tributes. Speaking first was Jaidyn's mum, Elaine Clarke, who stood side by side with her son, Kenley, and partner, Christopher. 'I've written you so many messages and notes and cards and letters over the years, but never did I ever think I'd ever be writing you anything under these circumstances,' Elaine said. 'I can't put into words how much I miss you. I miss our TikTok streaks. I miss our karaoke. I will miss seeing your face on Christmas morning and celebrating your birthdays. 'I miss your hugs and kisses and you telling me that you love me. I miss every single little thing about you, Jaidyn. I could stand here forever and list a billion things that I miss and it still wouldn't cover everything.' 'You wrote me a poem once for Mother's Day and in it you said the other half of your heart will always belong to me. Maybe that couldn't be more true. You have half of my heart with you. 'The 16 years I spent with you is the most treasured, precious memories I will hold close to my heart forever. I wish I had more time with you. You would have been the most beautiful bride ever and the best mummy the world has ever seen.' Jaidyn's brother Kenley (12) spoke of the deep bond they shared and the support his sister gave him. 'Jaidyn was like glitter,' he said. 'She always shined hope and happiness into everybody who met her. And no matter what happened, she'd always be there. I remember all the time at my cheer competitions, just before awards, everyone goes up and dances and she was always up on the floor, dancing it out to the max with me. I will miss that — and the time she stood up for me and held me when I cried.' The Co Down girl's passing was not only a loss to her family, but also to the volunteer groups she devoted much of her time to. Louise Little, from the DICE project, described how they had 'big plans' for her in the charity, as 'when others turned away, she stepped forward' and 'listened when others didn't or couldn't'. The youth programme worked with young people aged between 10 and 16 in Bangor. 'People were drawn to her strength,' Ms Little added. 'Her gentleness and her fierce sense of right and wrong. 'We had absolute faith in her ability and potential. She was someone who was going to be looked up to someone we trusted and someone who was already making a difference.' Poppy Andrews, who spoke on behalf of Jaidyn's friends, explained how the pair made many memories that she will 'cherish forever', and she shared a moment which brought warm laughter to the hall. 'My favourite memory of all time is when she was phoning the Chinese to order our dinner and she accidentally said 'love you' at the end of the phone call,' Poppy said. She added: 'You'll never be forgotten. I love you unconditionally. I can't even put my love for you into words. 'I'll miss our calls and just sitting in our room, or sitting in my room in silence as we watched TikTok, but it meant the world, just having your company. I hope Heaven knows what a wonderful girl they've gained.' Addressing those gathered, Reverend Ian McKee said: 'None of us could have foreseen this scenario that we'd be gathered together today to pay our last respects to Jaidyn Rice, who everyone loved deeply and adored absolutely. Her untimely death has devastated the family circle and shocked the whole community right to the core. 'Jaidyn was a beautiful, very special young lady. She loved, apparently, the colour pink, hence her pink Bible and the pink coffin. I'm told if she could have had her way, she would have dyed her pet hamster pink too.' Jaidyn's boyfriend, Ethan McClerg, also spoke at the service alongside Poppy and recalled the huge role she played in his life. He shared how the two acquired a hamster, which they agreed to have 'joint custody' of, naming it Jabba. 'One of my favourite memories of Jaidyn was how she wanted a friend of mine who had a fake ID to, not buy alcohol, not run anywhere, but to run into Pets at Home and get a hamster,' Ethan recalled. He added: 'She wasn't just my girlfriend. And despite how I'd never admitted it to her, she was my best friend, my life, my safe place. 'She was a person who could make me laugh even on my worst days, who made life feel fuller, more beautiful, and added a little more colour. She was one of a kind.' Jaidyn's grandmother told the congregation how, from a young age, her granddaughter's 'caring side was so clear to see'. Judith Rice said: 'I have never forgotten how privileged I was to be the first to hold you, as I held you close to mummy's face. Mummy's eyes and smile were so full of love, and how could they not be? From that day, you have brought us so much joy and love. 'Our world was a better place with you in it. As you grew, you taught us how to be grandparents. One look with those eyes and your wee face, and you had us every time.' Staff Sergeant Instructor Andrew Grey from the ACF explained that Ms Rice 'embodied the core values and standards' of the Army Cadet Force. He said: 'She was always in the middle of everything that was happening, guiding young cadets through their first night, quick to help when someone was having difficulties. She was my go-to cadet when we needed something done.' Concluding the tributes was Nicola Wilson, the principal of Jaidyn's school, Priory College, where, she told mourners, the Bangor teen 'inspired all around her'. The service ended with Ms Rice's favourite song, In The Stars by Benson Boone, being played, as well as a final hymn, before she was brought to her final resting place.
Local Sweden
14-07-2025
- Business
- Local Sweden
'Awesome people get pushed away': What's happening in the Swedish gaming industry?
In the past few months, a number of Swedish gaming companies have gone bankrupt or laid off staff amid struggles to find funding. Why is this happening, and how is it affecting foreigners in the industry? Advertisement For years, gaming has been one of Sweden's largest exports, with the gaming industry employing thousands in recent years. Many of those are international workers on work permits. We spoke to some of them to get an insider's perspective on what's happening in the industry. 'It's pretty horrific' One of the people The Local spoke to has worked in the Swedish gaming industry for over a decade, including stints at major game publishers. He's been affected personally by recent layoffs and has multiple friends and former colleagues who have been laid off and had to leave Sweden, unable to find a new job. 'One of my friends had three months to find a job, was scrambling around, and it didn't work out. He had a place here, had to sell it, his kid spoke Swedish, and now they've moved back to his home country. It's pretty horrific,' he said. As an EU citizen, he doesn't need a work permit to stay in Sweden, unlike non-EU citizens who lose their work permit unless they find a new job within three months after their notice period ends. Because of this, he has been able to go freelance. He wished to remain anonymous so as not to jeopardise his career. The layoffs in the industry aren't just hitting younger, more entry-level members of the gaming industry, he said, but also people with a lot of experience. 'I have a friend who shipped classic games on the Nintendo 64, he has such a wealth of knowledge. He just got laid off last week and has three months to figure it out.' 'More of a correction than a crisis' Karl Magnus Troedsson, former CEO of Swedish games company DICE, recently described the situation in the games industry to Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) as "a negative perfect storm", due to bankruptcies, redundancies and difficulties finding staff. "The discussion has gone from 'it'll be better in 2024', to '2025 looks like it will be difficult', to 'oh god, what is 2026 going to be like'," he told the newspaper. Troedsson is also the founder and partner of games-focused risk capital company Behold Ventures. "It's natural that you reassess the size of your staff," he said, "but what we're seeing now is much larger. It's a negative perfect storm." But despite the layoffs, the reader we spoke to is not sure he would describe the current situation as a crisis. 'It's more of a correction,' he said, adding that the industry saw a huge boom during the pandemic, as more people were stuck at home. At that time, there was a lot of investment going around, he said, as the gaming industry was one of the only industries that was performing well. 'The investors and venture capitalists and all the other people who had money to throw around were like 'oh, we're just gonna put money there because these nerds are at home and can ship games from home – they're just working in their basements, producing games, and people are consuming them,' he said. Advertisement Not only did this lead a lot of companies to start 'hiring like crazy', he added, but it also led to a lot of so-called 'veterans' leaving their stable jobs at big studios and securing investment to go out on their own. 'There are a bunch of these in Stockholm, companies that were started two or three years ago by veterans, who got a lot of money from venture capitalists. They would just transfer 100 million kronor to a company like that, to a team, and say 'ok, if they make a game that sells 1 billion kronor, we've made ten times our profit'. If they do that with 20 companies and five of them do that, they're good.' 'A lot of it doesn't make sense from a business standpoint' Many of those companies are now struggling to get more funding, the reader said, as they're moving on to the next stage of production, but costs are mounting and the business argument for more investment has become weaker. 'It's not easy to create a game from nothing. It's more difficult than creating a film. You can storyboard a film, but you can't storyboard a game. You need to design it. So a lot of these people built these teams, relocated people from across the globe, and then when the time comes to get funding, it's not easy to get. AI is a black hole for all the money out there, then there's the stuff that Trump is doing and the global outlook in general. People are battening down the hatches.' Advertisement Not only is it difficult to create a game from scratch – he estimated the average time to make a good game at 'five to six years' – but it's difficult to form a company from scratch and costs a lot of money to keep it going for that long before there is a final product to sell. 'From a business standpoint, a lot of it doesn't make sense,' he said. 'Let's say you have a staff of 60 to 70 people, you have a burn rate of a million euros a month. You have to pay rent, licenses, fly people around the world to go to conferences, they're usually in senior positions and have high wages, and often they're making a game that can't recoup those numbers.' This means that, even in cases where a studio has created a concept for a fun game which is likely to sell, it can end up not getting funding to move onto the next stage of the production process because it still might not sell enough to cover the years of costs racked up during production. 'Talent is getting pushed away' A number of other people working in the gaming industry speaking to The Local confirmed that they had not only lost their job once due to employer bankruptcies, but that they had lost their jobs multiple times as different employers filed for bankruptcy one after another. 'I'm in a lot of stress,' one non-EU reader said, adding that he had been looking for a job for six months with little success. 'I got a few interviews amidst a multitude of applications, with the majority of them ending in ghosting. The situation is indeed very bad." Advertisement He said that he would expect to have found something by now, due to his experience and passion for his work. "Instead, I'm on the verge of being forced to uplift my whole life back to the other side of the world, and to leave my current future plans behind." "It sucks. Although the industry is tough (or in literal flames), it would be much less stressful if Swedish migration rules were more considerate. The time to find another job is too small and doesn't even allow you to use your a-kassa [unemployment insurance] properly." The non-EU reader said that he has several colleagues in the same situation, and that some of them have already left the country. "In the end, awesome people and talent gets pushed away." Another person The Local spoke to, originally from South Korea, said the gaming industry is 'doomed'. 'People who have jobs are terrified they are going to lose them' The EU reader quoted previously, who has recently gone freelance after a layoff, added that people in the gaming industry in general are 'terrified'. 'You have to understand that this is a dream job for people. And the companies use that. They fly people around, underpay and overwork people, all of that is part of this industry. So the people who have jobs now are all terrified that they're going to lose them, and they should be,' he said. During the pandemic, roles in the gaming industry attracted specialists from other tech companies like Spotify and Klarna, and now there are not enough jobs to go around, he added. 'Now it's like musical chairs. The music has stopped and some people don't have seats.' Advertisement More investment is also going to AI, which has made it even more difficult to get a share of the shrinking pot of money available. It's not just the smaller studios which are struggling due to increased costs – larger studios like Microsoft, which owns Mojang, the company responsible for Minecraft, the best-selling game in history, are also laying off workers. 'From a growth perspective, the money is there. Microsoft booked record profits in their gaming division. But costs have doubled since the pandemic, and now that's being corrected down, because you don't need 2,000 people to make Candy Crush,' he said. Candy Crush is made by Swedish studio King, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2023. The Unionen union recently confirmed to Svenska Dagbladet that King would be laying off 200 workers, with 96 of those based in Stockholm. 'A personal crisis' The EU reader who had worked at major publishing studios added that this could be the start of a shift from salaried roles to freelance gigs – but only for specialists and people who already have a lot of experience. 'A composer, for instance, could be independent, because they can work on many projects. You're not tied to one brand or company with one specific IP. You could work on Star Wars one month and Call of Duty the next month.' Advertisement Despite his belief that the current situation is a 'correction' more than a 'crisis', the reader added that it is definitely a 'personal crisis' for many people in the industry currently going through a layoff. 'There are people that consider themselves to be game developers who are not going to be game developers next year. And for them, that's a personal crisis, because they've reached their goal, which is to work on games. And there are not enough chairs to seat everyone.'
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Battlefield 6 leak: Rumors hint at open class weapon system
(Image via DICE) The Battlefield franchise might be heading into bold new territory. A recent leak suggests that Battlefield 6 could ditch one of its longest-standing mechanics — class-based weapon restrictions. If true, this change could redefine how players approach combat in the next installment. But it's also stirred quite a debate among longtime fans. No More Locked Loadouts? Traditionally, Battlefield games have tied specific weapons to specific classes. Assault classes got rifles, Recon players used snipers, and Support carried LMGs. But if leaks from the Battlefield Labs test environment are to be believed, Battlefield 6 is set to introduce a more flexible system. Rather than locking guns to classes, players may be free to equip any weapon they want, regardless of their role. Want to play Recon but use a shotgun? Go for it. Prefer to be an Assault medic with a sniper? That might soon be possible. New Battlefield 6 Leaks Suggest An Open Beta Coming Soon! Perks Over Restrictions Instead of forcing weapon limitations, the new system reportedly introduces perks to incentivize using a class's 'Signature Weapon.' For example: Recon with sniper rifles : Less scope sway, faster reloads, steadier aim. Assault with assault rifles : Quicker weapon swaps and smoother sprint-to-shoot transitions. So while the freedom is there, players still benefit from sticking to their class's core identity. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Cách giao dịch ETH/USD mà không cần nắm giữ Ether IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo This Battlefield 6 Reveal Leak Changes EVERYTHING Custom Progression: Training & Specialization Another rumored feature is a 'Training' system that evolves your class over time. As you play, you'll unlock abilities like Recon players gaining access to area scans via UAVs. This progression system might work in tandem with leaked 'Class Specializations,' giving players more control over how they build their soldier. Fans Are Split — But Nothing's Final As expected, not everyone is thrilled. Some players worry this shift will dilute teamwork, reduce tactical variety, or turn Battlefield into just another shooter. Others welcome the experimentation, hoping it adds replayability and personalization. Worth noting: all of this is still in testing. With Battlefield Labs acting as a sandbox for feedback and iteration, EA could easily pivot back if the open weapon system doesn't land well. With whispers of an open beta on the horizon, fans may soon get hands-on experience to judge for themselves. All eyes are on Battlefield 6 as it continues to evolve in unexpected and potentially game-changing ways. For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the India vs England Test match here. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
The Star
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Digital creative industry hits RM5.3bil in revenue
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's digital creative industry recorded a strong performance in 2023, generating RM5.3bil in revenue with exports valued at RM800mil, says Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo (pic). More importantly, he said these achievements contributed to the creation of more than 10,000 high-value job opportunities across the ecosystem. 'Under the Digital Creative Ecosystem Roadmap (DICE) by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the government is showing a strong commitment to develop the digital creative sector with the objective of making Malaysia a regional and global hub for digital content creation by 2030. 'DICE is not just an initiative; rather, a holistic strategy to build a sustainable ecosystem that supports talent development, market access, investment, and innovation in this industry,' he said in his speech at the official launch of Upin & Ipin Universe video game here yesterday, Bernama reported. Also present were Les' Copaque Production managing director Burhanuddin Md Radzi, National Film Development Corporation of Malaysia (Finas) chairman Datuk Gerald Hans Isaac and Streamline Media Group chief executive officer Alexander Fernandez. Gobind said that riding the momentum of global digitalisation, the games sector is also booming. In this regard, the ministry is continuing to drive digital transformation by prioritising Animation and Games as a core component of the digital agenda. 'Recognising the importance of the Digital Creative industry, the ministry views it as a backbone of progress in the digital economy. 'To further strengthen this ecosystem, MDEC has launched two key programmes – Animated Shorts Challenge and Digital Games Testbed,' he said. Gobind said the launch of the Upin & Ipin Universe game is not just about unveiling a new game; it is a testament to the creativity, innovation, and collaborative spirit that define Malaysia's journey to becoming a regional hub for Animation and Games. The launch of the Upin & Ipin Universe game is a shining example of what Malaysia can achieve when creativity meets opportunity, he said. 'This game, developed by a cooperation between Les' Copaque Production and Streamline Studios, embodies the innovation and cultural richness that make Malaysian games stand out,' he said. Upin & Ipin Universe, developed by Streamline Studios, is an open-world adventure game inspired by South-East Asia's beloved Upin & Ipin series, will be available starting July 17. The game will be available for PC on Steam and Epic Game Store, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Nintendo Switch, marking a major milestone for the globally recognised franchise.
