Ubisoft

Most months, "We Are Data" would have produced a resigned nod and shake of the head, but people visiting it now have fresh reason to feel like their data is being weaponized against them. PRISM and other revelations weren’t just about what was seen — they were about the fact that when confronted with the leaks, the administration drove home how little it thought of public outrage. Watch Dogs promises a solution — but so far, it’s one that occupies an uncomfortable place between commentary and escapism.

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A shot of Unity 4's new Mecanim animation interface.

AAA developers with deep pockets are no doubt looking forward to the many gorgeous upgrades available in the upcoming Unreal Engine 4. But smaller independent developers will probably be more excited about the new features for Unity's just announced Unity Engine 4.

The new version of Unity fully integrates new animation tools from Mecanim, a Canadian company that Unity acquired last year. This brings skill from experienced animators who have worked with major publishers including EA and Ubisoft. Besides improving computational efficiency and increasing Unity's limit on simultaneously animated characters from dozens to "hundreds" at once, Unity President Dave Helgason stressed that the Mecanim system makes animation much simpler for developers.

"Things that would normally take several hours or even days to do—taking the animation data, making sure it fits the character, timing the motion extracts and making sure it all loops correctly—now that's all automatic so it's literally minutes... you can do so much more with so much less," Helgason told Ars. Users will also be able to buy canned animations from the Unity Asset Store, dropping fully animated characters into their projects unedited, or diving in deep to play with the underlying blend trees and state machines if they want.

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I… I don’t… Um. OK, let me start again. Vidiot Game is far-and-away the strangest thing I’ve ever played. It’s kind of like Nintendo’s madcap WarioWare series I guess, but things just happen and the floating face asks me all these questions and I fuse with bees to gain their powers and I killed a space-time void with a backflip. Also, a three question multiple choice prompt randomly asked me where I was from, and the one non-fictional option was my actual, incredibly obscure hometown. So I’m pretty sure Vidiot Game is also magic. It’s a giddy, nonsensical trip through utter silliness that probably counts as a hallucinogenic drug in whatever terrifying rainbow moon dimension it’s from, but I couldn’t stop. Also, it’s free! So try it and uh… I… words and stuff. Thanks, Free Indie Games. I think.

Massively Fun, Pixel Lab and Zipline Games on the next great gaming platform

Havok are currently recruiting for an AI developer for our San Francisco office.

Havok engineering has been at the cutting edge of innovation in game development for over a decade. We work cross platform, mainly on AAA titles, with top clients. We have a unique environment made up of talented, small, stable teams. We operate in some of the most exciting cities around the world. Our salaries are competitive and we provide excellent benefit and relocation packages.

Software Engineer vacancies in San Francisco, Dublin, Germany and Korea. Havok engineering has been at the cutting edge of innovation in game development for over a decade. We work cross platform, mainly on AAA titles, with top clients. We have a unique environment made up of talented, small, stable teams. We operate in some of the most exciting cities around the world. Our salaries are competitive and we provide excellent benefit and relocation packages.

Software Engineer vacancies in San Francisco, Dublin, Germany and Korea. Havok engineering has been at the cutting edge of innovation in game development for over a decade. We work cross platform, mainly on AAA titles, with top clients. We have a unique environment made up of talented, small, stable teams. We operate in some of the most exciting cities around the world. Our salaries are competitive and we provide excellent benefit and relocation packages.

Software Engineer vacancies in San Francisco, Dublin, Germany and Korea. Havok engineering has been at the cutting edge of innovation in game development for over a decade. We work cross platform, mainly on AAA titles, with top clients. We have a unique environment made up of talented, small, stable teams. We operate in some of the most exciting cities around the world. Our salaries are competitive and we provide excellent benefit and relocation packages.

Software Engineer vacancies in San Francisco, Dublin, Germany and Korea. Havok engineering has been at the cutting edge of innovation in game development for over a decade. We work cross platform, mainly on AAA titles, with top clients. We have a unique environment made up of talented, small, stable teams. We operate in some of the most exciting cities around the world. Our salaries are competitive and we provide excellent benefit and relocation packages.