Microsoft Buys Obsidian Entertainment and inXile

The two studios promise to remain on track

Obsidian Entertainment and inXile, two gaming studios known for their masterful RPGs, have been bought by Microsoft.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen studios being bought by big companies. It looks like Obsidian Entertainment and inXile, the two victims, as the community undoubtedly considers them, have found a new home with Microsoft.

In case you didn’t already know, Obsidian Entertainment made games such as Neverwinter Nights 2, The Knights of the Old Republic, Fallout: New Vegas, and Pillars of Eternity. On the other hand, inXile is known for The Bard's Tale, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and Wasteland 2.

Must contain romaine lettuce.

Verizon/AOL helped advertisers track kids online, must now pay $5M fine

AOL knowingly violated children's privacy law with billions of targeted ads.

Verizon-owned AOL helped advertisers track children online in order to serve targeted ads, in violation of a federal children's privacy law, and has agreed to pay a fine of $4.95 million, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced today.

"The Attorney General's Office found that AOL conducted billions of auctions for ad space on hundreds of websites the company knew were directed to children under the age of 13," Underwood's announcement said. "Through these auctions, AOL collected, used, and disclosed personal information from the websites' users in violation of COPPA [Children's Online Privacy Protection Act], enabling advertisers to track and serve targeted ads to young children."

Why driving is hard—even for AIs

Despite promises of "soon," the infrastructure to support the driverless future isn't there yet.

I have a couple of kids of learner’s permit age, and it’s my fatherly duty to give them some driving tips so they won’t be a menace to themselves and to everyone else. So I’ve been analyzing the way I drive: How did I know that the other driver was going to turn left ahead of me? Why am I paying attention to the unleashed dog on the sidewalk but not the branches of the trees overhead? What subconscious cues tell me that a light is about to change to red or that the door of a parked car is about to open?

This exercise has given me a renewed appreciation for the terrible complexity of driving—and that’s just the stuff I know to think about. The car itself already takes care of a million details that make the car go, stop, and steer, and that process was complex enough when I was young and cars were essentially mechanical and electric. Now, cars have become rolling computers, with humans controlling (at most) speed, direction, and comfort.