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Qualcomm has started cutting jobs in California, with aims to let go of around 1,500 people to meet a $1 billion savings commitment the company made to investors, reports Bloomberg. The job cuts are concentrated in California, but layoffs will also occur at other locations. The company currently employs around 33,800 people globally.

“We first evaluated non-headcount expense reductions, but we concluded that a workforce reduction is needed to support long-term growth and success, which will ultimately benefit all our stakeholders,” Qualcomm said in a statement to Bloomberg. In January, Qualcomm pledged to improve earnings by cutting its expenses by $1 billion via a cost reduction plan “designed to align our cost structure to our longterm…

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Author: Thuy Ong

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Originally scheduled to launch in 2017, the over-the-top arcade-style baseball game Super Mega Baseball 2 will launch on May 1, developer Metalhead announced today. The game will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC–and it’s priced at $30 in the US.

Metalhead co-founder Scott Drader said Super Mega Baseball 2 is a “more sophisticated baseball simulation” aimed at appealing to “baseball purists.” At the same time, the developer is also hoping to ensure it retains the “pick-up-and-play” element that made the first game so appealing. “Community feedback massively influenced our design choices for the sequel and we’ll be listening carefully to the community again this time when we’re considering further changes and additional content,” Drader said.

Super Mega Baseball 2 won’t look as cartoony as the first game, as character models are now “more realistically scaled.” There are also “new, more athletic” player animations, while the game’s eight stadiums have been built “from the ground up.”

Also new for Super Mega Baseball 2 is cross-play between PC and Xbox One and PC and PS4 (but not between PS4 and Xbox One), while there is online co-op and head-to-head using dedicated servers. Fans may also be happy to hear the league mode is improved with more customization items for logos, uniforms, and player gear. The game has “enhanced image quality” for PS4 Pro and Xbox One X.

Finally, Metalhead announced that it will launch three DLC packs at release that contain cosmetic customization options. No further details were announced, however.

Super Mega Baseball 2 is an unlicensed game, so you won’t see any familiar names, stadiums, or gear in the game. If you’re after a licensed MLB game, Sony’s MLB The Show 18 might be more up your alley. For more on baseball video games, check out GameSpot’s breakdown here: “Which Baseball Video Game Is Right For You?”

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Author: Eddie Makuch

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The next round of server maintenance is coming up soon for the Nintendo Switch, but thankfully the maintenance period isn’t very long.

As announced on Nintendo’s website, this maintenance period will begin on Thursday, April 19 at 6:50 PM PT, running through 8:30 PM PT. According to Nintendo, “some network services may become unavailable” during this time. Nintendo did not provide any more specifics about what services might be affected during this round of maintenance.

Nintendo–and other companies like Xbox and PlayStation–conducts regular maintenance on the servers for its online services and networks periodically to improve functionality and keep things up and running smoothly.

In other Nintendo Switch news, Bandai Namco recently announced that the remastered versions of Dark Souls for the hybrid system has been delayed. Originally set to launch on May 25 alongside the PS4 and Xbox One editions, the game (and the Solaire of Astora Amiibo) has been delayed to sometime in summer 2018.

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Author: Eddie Makuch

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OnePlus has confirmed that it’s partnering with Marvel on an Avengers-themed edition of the upcoming OnePlus 6. The phone will likely be exclusive to the Indian market, as was the case with last year’s Star Wars-branded OnePlus 5T.

“OnePlus’ association with Marvel Studios is a manifestation of the enduring love and support they have garnered from its respective community over the years with a purpose to go beyond the ordinary and achieve groundbreaking innovations in mobile technology only to create the best user experiences,” OnePlus said in a statement obtained by Android Central, noting that the deal “marks a step towards strengthening our association with Disney India.”

There aren’t any pictures of the Avengers edition yet, because…

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Author: Sam Byford

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Intel has confirmed that it plans to shut down the New Devices Group (NDG), and cease development on the Vaunt smart glasses project we revealed earlier this year. The story was first reported this evening by The Information, which also notes that the closure will probably result in “some layoffs” from the team that was reportedly around 200 people.

Here’s Intel’s statement:

Intel is continuously working on new technologies and experiences. Not all of these develop into a product we choose to take to market. The Superlight [the codename for Vaunt] project is a great example where Intel developed truly differentiated, consumer augmented reality glasses. We are going to take a disciplined approach as we keep inventing and exploring new…

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Author: Dieter Bohn

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Homeland, the acclaimed, award-winning drama-thriller starring Claire Danes, is coming to an end. Danes confirmed in an interview with radio host Howard Stern that the Showtime program is ending after its eighth season. “Yeah, that’s it,” the actress said when Stern asked about the rumors that the next season will be the show’s last one.

It may be, but Showtime isn’t ready to confirm anything. A representative for the network told The Hollywood Reporter that it has not made any decisions about the show’s future. Homeland is currently in its seventh season, which wraps up on April 29.

Danes added that she is “really conflicted” about ending her run as Carrie Mathison, though she acknowledged that she is looking forward to having a “reprieve” from the demands of playing a character who is almost always under duress.

Earlier this year, showrunner Alex Gansa told THR that he was planning to leave the show after Season 7, adding that he’s not sure sure Danes or co-star Mandy Patinkin would return either if the show is to continue. “I can’t speak for Claire or [co-star] Mandy [Patinkin], but it will be my final year and it will be designed to be the end of an eight-season story,” Gansa said. “If Showtime, Fox, Claire. and Mandy want to take the show further, that’s their decision, and we would leave some room for that to happen–if there’s an appetite.”

Disclosure: Homeland airs on Showtime, which is owned by GameSpot parent company CBS.

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Author: Eddie Makuch

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Only Nintendo could make folding cardboard fun

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Author: Andrew Webster

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Plenty of big announcements were made during Sega Fes 2018, like Shenmue I and II for modern platforms and the Mega Drive (Genesis) Mini for Japan. But nothing truly came close to the importance of the fact that the upcoming spinoff rhythm game Persona 5: Dancing Star Night will feature DLC costumes from the Yakuza series. Additionally, there will be a Sonic the Hedgehog outfit. Sega–the parent company of Persona developer Atlus–put out a Twitter poll asking fans which franchise crossover outfits they’d want in the Persona dancing games. Yakuza came in first by a wide margin with 46% of the vote while Sonic received 38% and Virtua Fighter trailed with 16% of votes.

The image below shows off the different costumes for each member of the Phantom Thieves: The main protagonist as Kazuma Kiryu, Ryuji Sakamoto as Ryuji Goda, Ann Takamaki as Goro Majima, Yusuke Kitagawa as Shun Akiyama, Makoto Niijima as Yasuko Saejima, Futaba Sakura as The Florist, and Haru Okumura as Haruka Sawamura. As for Morgana, he’ll be getting a cute Sonic onesie/jumpsuit.

Just because Virtua Fighter placed last in the poll doesn’t mean it’s not getting some love. Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night will feature DLC outfits from the esteemed fighting series: The main protagonist as Akira Yuki, Yukari Takeba as Pai Chan, Junpei Iori as Jeffry McWild, Akihiko Sanada as Wolf Hawkfield, Mitsuru Kirijo as Sarah Bryant, Fuuka Yamagishi as Lau Chan, Aigis as Jacky Bryant, and Ken Amada as Kage-Maru. Unfortunately, it looks as though the adorable, yet fierce shiba inu Koromaru isn’t included.

Both Persona 5: Dancing Star Night and Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night are set to simultaneously launch in Japan on May 24 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita; there’s currently no word on a North American or European release. The price and release date for all the DLC outfits have not been revealed yet. It was previously revealed that both games will feature PlayStation VR support and there will be a few special editions that include original art, soundtracks, and a downloadable version of Persona 4: Dancing All Night for PS4.

The original RPG Persona 5 won the hearts and minds of many including the GameSpot staff, and you can watch or read why it earned second place in our Best Games Of 2017 awards. As for Yakuza, the final chapter in Kazuma Kiryu’s long-running, heartfelt story just came out; check out our Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life review. We have some die-hard Yakuza fans here at GameSpot; you can watch us convince the world to dive into the series and spread the good word of Kazuma Kiryu.

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Author: Michael Higham

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Capcom has released another major update for Monster Hunter World. Update 3.0 is now available for PS4 and Xbox One, and it introduces some significant additions to the game, including a new Elder Dragon, quest type, and more.

The centerpiece of the update is the new Elder Dragon, Kulve Taroth, a fearsome monster with a golden mantle made of weapon relics. Kulve Taroth can be encountered in a new area called the Caverns of El Dorado, which Capcom describes as “a peculiar network of caverns shaped and influenced both by the Everstream and the minerals that Kulve Taroth has collected over the years.”

The Elder Dragon is the target of a new type of quest called Sieges. These limited-time events allow up to 16 players, divided into teams of four, to work together and hunt the same monster. The first Siege will coincide with the release of update 3.0 and won’t be available in the game for very long, although Capcom says it will return again at a later date.

Alongside Kulve Taroth comes an assortment of new equipment to craft for your hunter and Palico. The update also introduces a number of bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements. Among other changes, Capcom has implemented a feature to sort investigations. Additionally, players now have the option to sell all their trade-in items at once, and squad members who haven’t logged into the game in 30 days will no longer be automatically booted from the squad.

Update 3.0 includes a number of other smaller tweaks to the game, which you can learn more about in the full patch notes on the official Monster Hunter website. You will need roughly 1.2 GB of free space on PS4 or Xbox One in order to install the update.

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Author: Kevin Knezevic

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The only upside to Puerto Rico’s island-wide blackout is that engineers and aid groups could rethink it from the ground up. They may have to.
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Author: Adam Rogers

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