The high demand for advanced semiconductors is increasing tensions between the US and China.Production power is key to the conflict, but tensions have shifted to the supply of raw materials.Supply chain and foreign relations experts told BI why the AI race is similar to a new Cold War. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. In the race against the US for global tech supremacy, China has the upper hand in at least one critical area: rare earths.The term refers to a group of 17 elements required to make tech products ranging from semiconductors to industrial magnets and some solar panels the same items embroiled in the US-China trade war.For more than a year, Beijing has slowly been tightening its grip on critical minerals and rare earths.In December, China banned the export of a range of rare earth processing technologies. Last month, China further tightened its grip on the sector. Citing resource protection and national security, Beijing madeNow, there are fears that China could tighten the global rare earths supply chain even more.Here's what you need to know about rare earths, what makes them so valuable, and how they play into the tech war between the US and China.China's rare earth dominanceChina has long dominated the rare earths market due to supply, low labor costs, and lax environmental standards.The country produces 60% of the world's rare earth mineral supply and accounts for 90% of global refined output.The late Deng Xiaoping the Chinese leader who spearheaded the country's economic reforms in 1978 recognized their strategic importance in 1992, saying, "The Middle East has oil, China has rare earths."Under the new regulations introduced last month, China's rare earth resources now belong to the state. Two Canadian-owned rare earth refineries in China are also being acquired by state-owned companies.This is not the first time Beijing has placed restrictions on rare earths. In 2010, China imposed strict rare earth quotas, citing environmental concerns and resource preservation. The move sent prices up sharply and prompted the US, the European Union, and Japan to file a complaint against China for unfair trade practices at the World Trade Organization. China lost the case and lifted exported quotas in 2015.Various countries tried to diversify their rare earth supply chains in the wake of China's quotas in the 2010s, but success has been limited due to the high cost of investment and environmental concerns.There are renewed efforts to boost global production in the face of rising tensions.In 2022, the US Department of Defense awarded $45 million to MP Materials for rare earth oxide processing, and in 2023, it awarded over $288 million to Lynas USA to set up commercial-scale rare earth oxide production facilities.How is China leveraging rare earths?Beijing's moves to control critical minerals and rare earths are part of a toolbox Beijing has developed over the last four years, Rick Waters, the managing director of Eurasia Group's China practice, said at a press briefing.During President Donald Trump's first term, the US and China slapped retaliatory tariffs on each other. However, China has less leverage in a tariff fight because it exports more to the US than it imports, so it came up with another regulatory framework this one involving rare earths that it can use in a trade dispute."They're experimenting with its use, and I think, in a way, they could go further if they perceive they need to," said Waters.Any further tightening of rare earth supplies which are a subset under critical minerals could leave the US vulnerable to supply shocks."China has cornered the market for processing and refining of key critical minerals, leaving the US and our allies and partners vulnerable to supply chain shocks and undermining economic and national security," the White House said in a statement in September.What do the restrictions on rare earths mean for TSMC and Nvidia?China's control over rare earths could weigh heavily in the trade war between Washington and Beijing, with chips in the center of the conflict.Chips are found in everything from computers to cell phones, cars, and defense equipment. Taiwan dominates the market, producing over 60% of the world's chips and over 90% of the most advanced ones.One company Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is responsible for most of the output and is the key supplier to AI chip giant Nvidia, which is in the thick of the tech rivalry.The US has already moved to block the export of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China.If the trade tiff escalates such as in the form of higher tariffs China could pull its rare earth card, Oxford Economics wrote in a report published in July."China's dominance in the battery supply chain accords policymakers with leverage to withhold industry-specific inputs from Western manufacturers, which could prove inflationary and economically disruptive," wrote Louise Loo, the lead economist for Greater China at Oxford Economics.This could involve further controls on critical commodity exports, particularly in rare earth minerals, Loo added.As happened with China's rare earth export curbs in 2010, prices are likely to spike if supply is tightened, so any prolonged supply crunch could drive up inflation for end products.The tech Cold WarThe US and China's moves to outmaneuver each other in the tech race have some analysts drawing parallels to the Cold War.Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Business Insider the idea that the US ought to out-compete China and prevent the nation from developing advanced chips plays into a "bigger power competition narrative."She said the tensions are similar, though not identical, to the tensions between the US and Soviet Union that began after the end of World War II.As Bloomberg reported last month, the US is considering limiting export licenses for both Nvidia and AMD chips in an unfolding trade war that has also hit several sensitive industries, including electric vehicles, batteries, and some solar panels.The US imposed similar trade limits, embargoes, and economic sanctions on the Soviet Union, North Korea, China, and North Vietnam during the Cold War."I think the heart of the issue is concern about how China will use AI chips for military applications and surveillance," Chris Tang, a UCLA professor and expert in global supply chain management and the impact of regulatory policies, told BI. "It's a different type of Cold War."Beyond a tense relationship, the dynamics between the US and China are also creating parallel systems, with the US and its allies on one side, and China and its allies on the other, Nick Vyas, the founding director of USC Marshall's Randall R. Kendrick Global Supply Chain Institute, told BI.Vyas said he's concerned the tension could escalate from this new Cold War to a hot one between global powers."When we stop transacting horizontally with each other, that's only creating a larger conflict," Vyas said. "And then with a South China Sea conflict, the geopolitical conflict could turn into a larger conflict, which can lead to a major situation that leads up to a war."Representatives for Nvidia declined to comment for this story. Representatives for AMD and the Bureau of Industry and Security didn't respond to requests for comment from BI.

Donald Trump announced that he intends to nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to serve as his attorney general. Gaetz is a longtime Trump loyalist, who will likely be tasked with remaking the Department of Justice. The department has traditionally adhered to strong norms against interference by the president; Trump and his allies have been explicit in arguing that should change. Trump has also repeatedly called for legal action against his political enemies, including promising to appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family, in 2023.Enforcing those sorts of threats would fall to Gaetz, if he is confirmed by the Senate.Before being nominated to be attorney general, Gaetz was probably best known for two things. One is his longstanding feud with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who was eventually ousted in no small part because of Gaetz. The other is the string of sexual misconduct allegations. Gaetz denies these allegations, and the Department of Justice dropped its investigation into them in 2023.If Gaetz does end up running that same department, hell be in a uniquely powerful role. He would be tasked with overseeing all federal prosecutions, providing legal advice to the president and the Cabinet, and would have the final say on any legal stance that the United States takes in court. Of greater significance perhaps is the fact that Gaetz would have enormous authority over who is prosecuted, who is allowed to get away with committing federal crimes, and who might be targeted for politically motivated prosecutions in an authoritarian administration.Trump has repeatedly promised retribution against his Democratic rivals. And his fellow Republicans on the Supreme Court ruled last July that he can order the Justice Department to bring politically motivated prosecutions without consequence.In the first Trump administration, Trump reportedly wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute his former political opponent Hillary Clinton and former FBI director James Comey, but was dissuaded from doing so by White House Counsel Don McGahn. Gaetzs strong support for Trump, by contrast, makes it seem hes much less likely to resist such an order.Just who is Matt Gaetz? Gaetz has a law degree, and he did previously practice law in northwest Florida. Hes been a representative since 2017, and became known both for stunts on the House floor like wearing a gas mask to protest masking policies during the coronavirus pandemic as well as his staunch support for Trump.In 2021, it was revealed that Gaetz was the subject of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.The allegations arose out of his relationship with Joel Greenberg, a former county-level tax collector who was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a federal judge in 2022. Greenberg pled guilty to a wide range of crimes, including underage sex trafficking, wire fraud, identity theft, and conspiring to defraud the federal government. Judge Gregory Presnell, who sentenced Greenberg, said that hes never seen a defendant who has committed so many different types of crimes in such a relatively short period.According to CNN, Greenberg also cooperated extensively with the Justice Departments sex-trafficking probe into GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz. Among other things, Greenberg reportedly told investigators that he witnessed Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl. (Gaetz in 2021 issued a blanket denial of the allegations via a statement from his office, writing: No part of the allegations against me are true.)As a general rule, sex offenses such as soliciting prostitution are handled by state-level prosecutors, as the Constitution only gives the federal government limited authority over sex crimes. The US Justice Department can get involved, however, in narrow circumstances. The Justice Departments investigation into Gaetz looked into whether he had sex with this teenager and paid for her to travel with him. It is a federal crime to transport someone across state lines, with the intent that they engage in prostitution or illicit sexual conduct. The most serious violations of this statute carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.In any event, the Justice Department eventually decided not to charge Gaetz. Its reasons for declining to do so have not been made public, but the lack of charges does not necessarily clear him of the allegations. Meanwhile, a House ethics investigation into Gaetz remains ongoing.According to ABC News, one woman told the House committee investigating Gaetz that the member of Congress paid her for sex. Others have said they were paid to attend parties that Gaetz also attended, where attendees used drugs and had sex. Again, Gaetz has denied any misconduct.As of yet, its unclear whether a majority of senators will vote to confirm Gaetz as attorney general. But theres some evidence that many Republicans will be turned off by the sex crimes allegations against Gaetz, and by his generally poor reputation on Capitol Hill. In 2023, for example, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said that theres a reason why no one in the [Republican] conference defended Gaetz after seeing some of the evidence against him.As New York Times columnist Ezra Klein writes, Trumps decision to nominate Gaetz should be read as an effort to gauge whether Republican senators will permit him to take absurd and dangerous actions. These arent just appointments, Klein writes of Gaetz and Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, Theyre loyalty tests. The absurdity is the point.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

In the warm blue waters of the Solomon Islands, an island chain in the South Pacific, lies one of the worlds largest sea creatures. Roughly the size of two basketball courts, its neither a whale nor a giant squid.It is a single piece of coral. On Wednesday, a team of researchers and filmmakers exploring the Solomon Islands revealed that they found what they claim is the worlds largest individual coral colony. The coral, a communal organism comprising millions of animals called polyps, is 34 meters wide and 32 meters long and so large it can be seen from space. A typical coral reef is made of many different coral colonies, most of which are genetically distinct, whereas this is just one individual.In new photos shared by the research team, the coral, a species known as Pavona clavus, looks like a lumpy brown mound covered in knobs. Closer views reveal bits of yellow, green, and purple. Given its size and the slow speed at which corals grow, this individual is likely several centuries old.The mega coral is so large it dwarfs the diver alongside it. Manu San Flix/National Geographic Pristine SeasClose-up views reveal all kinds of sea life growing on and around the coral. Manu San Flix/National Geographic Pristine SeasIts a dream to see something unique like this, Manu San Flix, an underwater photographer and marine biologist who first saw the coral last month in the Solomon Islands, told Vox. When Napoleon was alive, this thing was here. San Flix discovered the coral while filming near an island called Malaulalo for an ongoing National Geographic expedition. The expedition, a collaboration with the Solomon Islands government, is part of National Geographics Pristine Seas project, which aims to help countries establish more marine parks, in part by documenting sea life. Malaulalo is mostly uninhabited and its waters are largely unexplored, according to Dennis Marita, a member of the Poonapaina Tribe of Ulawa. The tribe oversees Malaulalos marine territory. This is something huge for our community, Marita, whos also the director of culture at the Solomon Islandss ministry of culture and tourism, said in a press conference Tuesday. No other coral in the public record is larger than this one, though its possible that there are bigger colonies in remote stretches of the ocean that have yet to be discovered. The previous record-holder for the worlds largest coral was a colony in American Samoa that was roughly 22 meters wide. Many of the worlds coral reefs are remote and not well explored, Stacy Jupiter, executive director of marine conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society, who was not involved in this expedition, told Vox. Humans have only surveyed about 5 percent of the planets marine realm, she mentioned. So it is not surprising at all that we continue to make new discoveries, even of large creatures, Jupiter said.Manu San Felix dives over a massive coral Manu San Flix, National Geographic Pristine SeasBeacon of hopeThe discovery comes at a time when coral reefs around the world are vanishing.Climate change is warming the oceans, and warm water kills corals. Coral gets its color and much of its food from symbiotic algae that live inside polyps. When seawater gets too warm, that algae disappears, and the coral turns white or bleaches. Bleached corals are essentially starving to death. Coral reefs globally are facing the most extensive bleaching crisis on record. Three-quarters of the worlds coral reefs have experienced enough ocean heat to cause bleaching since early 2023, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Many corals have died. Related:Meanwhile, new research suggests that more than 40 percent of hard corals those that build reefs, like the recently discovered colony in the Solomon Islands are at risk of extinction. This is a problem, to put it lightly. Reefs dampen waves that hit the shoreline during hurricanes, they are home to a significant portion of commercial fish that people eat, and they are the engine of tourism economies in many coastal regions. Hundreds of millions of people depend on coral reefs.Perhaps unsurprisingly, the National Geographic team discovered a lot of dead coral in the shallows of the Solomon Islands, likely due to excessive heat in the ocean, said Molly Timmers, a marine ecologist and the expeditions lead scientist. That was discouraging, she said. In the face of that loss, this discovery was a beacon of hope, Timmers told Vox. Its like, holy crap! This is amazing!Large coral colonies provide homes for marine critters like crabs, snails, and small fish. More importantly, they seed the ocean with baby corals when they spawn, or reproduce, helping damaged sections of reef recover. Plus, this particular coral may be resilient to stress, including excessive marine heat. The research team estimates that its between 300 and 500 years old, meaning its lived through multiple global bleaching events and survived. Unlike some of the coral closer to shore, this individual which was more than 10 meters deep appeared healthy, perhaps because it was in deeper, cooler water or because it has some built-in genetic tolerance to heat. So the spawn it produces could be resilient too. Anything old is really good at surviving, said Maria Beger, a marine ecologist at the University of Leeds, who was not involved in the discovery. Divers measure the newly discovered coral, revealing it to be the largest on record. Manu San Flix/National Geographic Pristine SeasDiscovering a hulking colony of coral is not, by itself, all that impressive, said Beger. To support marine life and withstand threats like climate change, its more important that reefs have a diverse array of coral species in all shapes and sizes, rather than one big one.At the same time, if a report like this gets people excited about coral reefs, she said, maybe thats a good thing.The discovery could also help the Solomon Islands conserve their waters more effectively, Marita, of the ministry of culture and tourism, told Vox. While his tribe has been informally conserving Malaulalo for a decade on its own, he said, the island would benefit from an official marine protected area recognized by the Solomon Islands government. Marita has been campaigning to make that happen. This will certainly boost the conservation initiative that we have been working on, he told Vox, referring to the discovery. This mega coral will help bring much-needed visibility and recognition from the government and other stakeholders. This is really a gain for us. Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

By 2004, video games were well into their adolescence. The war between Sega and Nintendo that defined the early 1990s was in the rear-view mirror the PlayStation had knocked both of them off their perch, and Microsoft had released the Xbox. The critical and commercial hits of the day were not cartoon platformers but operatic space shooters (Halo) and anarchic crime games (Grand Theft Auto). There were lots of guns, and most games were embracing increasingly cinematic cutscenes.Nintendo, meanwhile, had fallen into third place with its Game Cube home console but it still owned the handheld game market with the Game Boy Advance. Everyone was expecting the next iteration in the Game Boy family. But instead, Nintendo released a strange-looking silver clamshell console that you controlled with a stylus.The Nintendo DS turns 20 this month. Despite its weird looks and unconventional controls, it was Nintendos biggest-ever hit, selling more than 150m units. It catered not just to people who wanted to play Mario on the go, but also to those who had never thought of picking up a video game console before. Intuitive touchscreen controls opened video games up to millions more people than the Game Boy had been able to reach. On the DS, you could play sudoku, language-learning games and raise virtual pets. Many people bought it not for Pokmon but for Dr Kawashimas Brain Training.The idea of a dual-screen console had been knocking about at Nintendo for a while. It was an idea that Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo from 1949 until 2002, was especially fond of, and he mentioned it often to his successor, Satoru Iwata, and to Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendos creative lead. As Iwata put it: The demand to make something with two screens had been with us for a while, a persistent source of motivation, to the point where Miyamoto and I basically reverse-engineered the thing.Iwata always had confidence in the idea, but the markets and the public met the DS with enormous scepticism. At first, lots of people were confused, he remembered. When we announced, Were going to release a console that has two screens and a touch panel, most people must have thought, Nintendo has gone off the deep end.The DS marked the advent of touchscreen gaming The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Photograph: undefined/NintendoIn retrospect, the Nintendo DS prepared the world for the iPhone, and for the explosion in touchscreen smartphone gaming that would eventually kill off the whole idea of a handheld games console. We dont need them any more, now that we have one device that fits in our pockets and can do everything from giving us directions and taking photos to playing games. The DS was a half step between the Game Boy and the smartphone a device that played games but could also do other things.I was there for the games, of course. When I bought my DS, nobody knew that it would vastly expand the gaming population. And it had some tremendous games, including plenty of weird and wonderful ones. The DSs new control method seemed to inspire developers to do all kinds of playful, unexpected things. Touchscreen control was this consoles most lasting innovation, but the dual-screen clamshell of the DS is surprisingly adaptable, and lent itself to a bunch of uses.Brain Training had you holding the console sideways like a book, writing answers to simple maths and logic questions on the touch-screen. The puzzles in adventure game Another Code had you opening and closing the DS to stamp documents, or angling the screens to reflect off one another to decipher a symbol. In Electroplankton, you draw paths for small musical organisms. There was even a Guitar Hero game that came with a small attachable fretboard and plectrum. In the DS Zelda game Phantom Hourglass you have to shout at a character through the microphone to get them to lower a bridge for you. You could talk to your Nintendog, too.More than anything, the DS inspired variety. I have a huge collection of DS games ranging from unexpectedly heartbreaking desert-island simulators (Lost in Blue) and the basketball game Mario Hoops 3-on-3 to rhythm games and visual novels (the courageously heartfelt lawyer-drama series Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney has never been better than it was on the DS). Among its bestsellers were, as youd expect, New Super Mario Bros and Mario Kart, but also Brain Training, Nintendogs and Professor Layton (a charming puzzle game about an English professor and his child protege). Its catalogue was anything but homogeneous.The 3DS, released in 2011, was a worthy successor with its own great lineup, but by then smartphones had already dealt a killer blow to the handheld games console, and the industry was becoming more conservative. The kind of wide-ranging, open-ended experimentation that defined the DS catalogue would never be seen again. The DS will be remembered by the world as the console that pioneered touch-screen control but for me, itll always be the console with the most eclectic selection of games ever.What to playA classic pick Mario Kart. Photograph: NintendoThe most obvious classic DS picks are Mario Kart, Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Nintendogs (dont @ me) and Animal Crossing: Wild World. But since when have I ever served you whats obvious?Osu! Tatakae! OuendanElite Beat Agents outside Japan), is the perfect encapsulation of this experimental age in handheld game design. It is an interactive musical opera-manga in which you take control of a team of cheerleaders to help people through moments of strife in their lives, soundtracked by massive J-pop tunes. You use the stylus to tap and swipe in time with the music, directing the cheer squad to help a pottery artist rediscover his muse, a school pupil ace his exams and a ghost tell his still-living wife that he loves her. There are carts on eBay for less than 15.Available on: Nintendo DS Estimated playtime: skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Pushing ButtonsFree weekly newsletterKeza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gamingPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionWhat to readStar Wars Outlaws, which is up for a Grammy, weaves in-universe and player-focused music together. Photograph: UbisoftThe Grammy nominees for best video game soundtrack have been announced. They are: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora; God of War Ragnark: Valhalla; Marvels Spider-Man 2; Star Wars Outlaws; and Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. We recently profiled the people behind the music of Star Wars Outlaws in our High Scores video game music column.Deadline reports that the stars of Amazon Primes excellent Fallout TV adaptation will be joined next season byMacaulay Culkin, as a crazy-genius type character.Sony and Nintendo announced quarterly financial results this week. Highlights on the PlayStation side: Sony has now sold 65m units of the PS5, and 1.5m of the delightful Astro Bot. On the Nintendo side: it has now sold 146m Switch consoles, which still falls just short of the DS (154m) as Nintendos bestselling console ever.The next Nintendo console will be backwards-compatible with Switch games, Nintendos president, Shuntaro Furukawa, confirmed in a press conference. More details on the new machine are coming before the end of this financial year.What to clickQuestion BlockMonument Valley, one of the smartphone games available with a Netflix subscription. Photograph: ustwoReader Lewis asks:I love playing mobile games of all types, but the one I play the most often is a Puzzle Bobble/Bust-a-Move copycat that I use to mindlessly destress after a long day (Im on level 5,264). The only issue with these games is the endless onslaught of confusing, long and weird adverts. Do you have any suggestions for solid, well designed, free puzzle games will keep me from doomscrolling?Alas, the price for free games on your phone is, almostNetflix subscription? It comes with a bunch of smartphone games, some of which are very good puzzlers: Monument Valley, Paper Trail, Arranger, Cut the Rope and a variety of appealingly mindless match-3 and word games.I also asked the fine people of Bluesky to weigh in, and here are the recommendations they came back with (thank you, everyone): Slice & Dice, Konamis Pixel Puzzle Collection, Township, Threes, Match Factory! and Twenty. A dev shouted out their game, Vectic Lite, which has ignorable banner ads, alongside another banner-ad-only puzzle game called Nokama. Theres also an independent puzzle games website, Thinky Games, that lets you search its database for recommendations.If youve got a question for Question Block or anything else to say about the newsletter hit reply or email us on pushingbuttons@theguardian.com.

In 2004, Holly Longdale was a game designer on EverQuest, then the champion of a new genre of video game that allowed for multiplayer role-playing on a huge scale. In these online fantasy worlds, players could quest together rather than alone, adding a fascinating new social and competitive dimension to the static, offline role-playing that Hollys generation had grown up with. But whenever she could, Longdale would sneak in a few hours playing EverQuests main competitor instead. That game was World of Warcraft (WoW).There were so many moments in WoW I was envious of, she says, and completely lost in. I remember running through Ashenvale as a Night Elf Hunter and the music and the ambience there was a mood you couldnt deny. Then I saw another player running in the opposite direction, a Druid who buffed me on their way by. That was when I knew I was going to be in this for the long-haul. Twenty years later, Longdale is now WoWs VP and executive producer at its developer, Blizzard, as well as one of millions who embraced the game as part of their lives.By 2021, players had collectively clocked up a total playtime of nearly 9m yearsFor two decades, World of Warcraft has been emblematic of nerd culture, referenced everywhere from South Park to The Big Bang Theory to Family Guy. WoW became a useful shorthand not just for a certain type of gamer, but any and all geeky, nerdy and dorky subcultures. In the 00s, it was advertised by the likes of Ozzy Osborne, Chuck Norris and Mr T, with his infamous Night Elf Mohawk. It counts Henry Cavill, Mila Kunis and Vin Diesel among its fans, while a movie adaptation in 2016 grossed $439m, without being particularly good. In 2021, Blizzard revealed that players had collectively clocked up a total playtime of nearly 9m years.WoW is more than a game Holly Longdale at BlizzCon 2023. Photograph: Robert Paul/ Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.There were certainly other role-playing games prior to WoWs release in 2004. But 3D graphics were still in their infancy. The likes of Star Wars Galaxies and Everquest had large, mostly barren worlds that relied on reams of in-game text for exposition, and clunky rules lifted from tabletop games. Then along came Blizzard a developer that had made its name and a small fortune from superb online competitive strategy games such as StarCraft and Warcraft III. Unlike its competitors, WoWs world of Azeroth felt lived-in, with gorgeous scenic vistas and vast numbers of animals and monsters prowling its landscapes. Iconic bright-yellow exclamation marks hovered above the heads of non-player characters, letting you know a quest awaited. And, of course, youd see other players everywhere, taming beasts, taking down monsters for quests, drinking in inns, mining ore or just running by in high-level gear that filled you with jealousy as you struggled to tackle a pack of lowly Murlocs.It was the social side of the game that came to define early WoW. The worlds tightly curated zones encouraged players to stumble across other people as they quested through Azeroth. And when you created your character, you had to pick between two factions, Alliance and Horde, giving players an immediate sense of allegiance. Whether it was grouping up to tackle dungeons, rallying into 40-person bands to take down colossal raid-bosses, or even rushing the enemy capital as an army of low-level cannon-fodder, seemingly every player has a story about their time in Azeroth.A perfect storm is brewing ... World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. Photograph: Blizzard EntertainmentI still romanticise my role in sneaking up to the Alliance capital of Stormwind alongside a group of low-level Undead Rogues. What wed imagined as a daring raid ended up with us running for our lives. Another time, I asked a better-geared passerby for help taking down a particularly tough monster in the Night Elf zone of Darkshore, only to end up chatting to him for hours. I messaged that same player for months after.WoW was quite simply a phenomenon. Blizzard had to more than double its headcount within a year, employing legions of people to answer players questions, solve their technical issues and keep servers up and running. WoW racked up staggering subscriber counts, boosted further by the release of two expansion packs: The Burning Crusade in 2007 and Wrath of the Lich King in 2008.By 2010, more than 12 million players had active monthly subscriptions. Some called themselves WoWaholics. Other players found WoW to be an escape from the limitations of real life, as evidenced by the touching story of Mats Steen, recently told in the Netflix documentary The Remarkable Life of Ibelin. Mats had muscular dystrophy before his untimely death at 25, but he was living a vibrant life inside WoW, a life of which his parents were totally unaware until his online friends sent long messages from all over Europe telling them how their son had touched their lives. Five members of Mats WoW guild went to Norway for his funeral.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Pushing ButtonsFree weekly newsletterKeza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gamingPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionThe way were social on the internet has changed and WoW is a reflection of thatBut no game can stay in the spotlight for ever. While WoW went from strength to strength in its first six years, as the game aged, so did its players. As then lead game designer, now game director, Ion Hazzikostas put it in 2014: The person who picked up the game in 2004, who was a student with tons of free time, is now a career person with a family. Blizzard had to attract a new generation, while keeping existing fans. For the 2010 Cataclysm expansion, a decision was made to shake up the game through a massive revamp of its world, with a new design philosophy suited to faster gameplay that it was thought modern gamers demanded. The changes are still controversial.Questing through Azeroth today is a scarcely recognisable experience compared to those early years. WoW has had several distinct eras: theres the classic WoW era running up to Wrath of the Lich King (2004-8); the world revamp that defined Cataclysm (2010) through to Warlords of Draenor (2014); the pivot to a long endgame grind, where players could become endlessly more powerful in Legion (2016) through Shadowlands (2020); and WoWs modern era, beginning with Dragonflight (2022) and continuing into the recently launched expansion The War Within (2024). These eras are so distinct that it feels as though the game reinvents itself every six or so years.The social aspect has also changed with the times. As Taliesin one half of the husband and wife WoW YouTube duo Taliesin & Evitel puts it: The way were social on the internet has changed and WoW is a reflection of that; 2004 was a time of message boards and forums and a more underground internet. The internet today is much shorter and sharper. Its TikTok, its all your social media focused on one or two megasites. What we do socially on the internet has changed, and so has WoW.Anger protesters in 2021. Photograph: David McNew/AFP/Getty ImagesIts common to hear complaints that WoW has changed so much that its original spirit has been lost. Players have often been left confused about design decisions they felt were inconsistent with the traditional experience. Unfortunately for Blizzard, these reached their peak following the launch of Shadowlands in 2020, precisely when a perfect storm was brewing for the company. Not only was game development upended by Covid, but in 2021 Blizzard was hit with a lawsuit brought by Californias department of fair employment, accusing it of fostering a frat boy workplace culture, with sexual harassment and poor treatment of women.The lawsuit had wide-reaching implications for the company and the wider gaming industry. Several senior executives, including Blizzards president J Allen Brack, stood down, and the company agreed to pay millions to address gender discrimination and wage inequality concerns. The suit ultimately contributed to the formation of the first labour union at a major US gaming firm.Within WoW specifically, the suit led to rapid changes in-game. Characters named after accused abusers were renamed and many in-game assets deemed inappropriate in light of the allegations, such as sexualised depictions of women, were replaced or tweaked. Many of the changes were ridiculed by the playerbase, who urged Blizzard to combat toxicity, rather than turning women into fruit bowls.Showdown in Azeroth a WoW battle. Photograph: Blizzard EntertainmentLongdale had only just joined Blizzard in 2020 when the lawsuit kicked off. It was heartbreaking, she says. I was only a few months in. To see the team just devastated, wondering what the future will be, was truly heartbreaking. The fallout, combined with the already-present malaise about the state of the game, could easily have been the beginning of the end for WoW. But a commitment from both the WoW team and the new Blizzard leadership to build back better meant the game held on. What Im really proud of, says Longdale, is that the diversity of our team has grown significantly. Theres a lot more voice in the content that we make now and people are creating content that is very personal, based on their own experiences.Every time WoW seemed at risk of losing relevance over the years, it has managed to reinvent itself and claw its way back. And while its cultural reach has lessened over time, the impact its had is undeniable. ountless fantasy roleplaying worlds and characters have been inspired by WoWs pantheon of heroes. The game is in the DNA of every subsequent generation of video games that have been developed since 2004.While the WoW of today may not spark that same wonder that early players felt roaming the green hills of Stranglethorn or taking that first ship from Kalimdor to the Eastern Kingdoms back in 2004, the fact its still going, and still changing, is testament to the incredible foundations it laid down 20 years ago. And as for WoWs future? My goal, and I think the teams goal, is that WoW is more than a game, says Longdale. Its essentially part of your lifestyle. It can be for your friends, it can be for parents playing with their kids. Its a charming fantasy world that connects you with people.

EXCLUSIVE: World of Warcraft is one of the most popular games in the world on PC, but could it come to console eventually? We asked executive producer Holly Longdale at the game's 20th Anniversary

EXCLUSIVE: As part of the celebrations, the team at Blizzard has a whole slew of announcements across the core strategy franchise, WoW, Hearthstone and Warcraft Rumble

Honouring 30 years of Warcraft: how remasters and classic Classic WoW will workGameCentralPublished Nov 14, 2024, 1:00amWorld Of Warcraft is bigger than ever (Blizzard Entertainment)Blizzard is celebrating three decades of Warcraft, with remasters of the original two games and a reset of World Of Warcraft Classic.World Of Warcraft celebrates its 20th anniversary on November 23, but the franchise is far older than that. Its often forgotten nowadays, but World Of Warcraft is actually a spin-off, from a franchise that started off as a series of real-time strategy games. And so it was on November 15, 1994 that developer Blizzard released Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and took the first step towards a game that is only getting more popular with age.With the original game now being 30 years old, that means the franchise is enjoying a double anniversary this month. To celebrate the fact, Blizzard has announced remasters of both the original game and its 1995 sequel, plus a new 2.0 update for the disastrous remaster of Warcraft 3, which was originally released in 2002.Blizzard previously said the original two games were too old to be enjoyable anymore but the remaster of Orcs & Humans includes new modern controls, a new interface, faster gameplay, and completely hand-drawn graphics that you can toggle on and off at will.Warcraft 2 is getting the same treatment, plus online multiplayer and backwards compatibility with all existing custom maps, which is certain to please fans. Meanwhile Warcraft 3: Reforge 2.0 will have a new UI, a new lighting system and improved environments, and various quality of life improvements.The three games are currently only available via Battle.net (so not Steam) and cost 8.99 for Warcraft 1, 12.59 for Warcraft 2, and 24.99 for Warcraft 3. Or you can get them all in one Battle Chest for 34.99 (so a saving of 11.58).Its a very welcome way to celebrate the anniversary, especially as so many people today are likely to be unaware of the games and indeed the entire real-time strategy genre. Orcs & Humans was heavily influenced by Westwood Studios Dune 2 which established the template for all future games, including both Warcraft 2 and Westwoods follow-up Command & Conquer.While turn-based strategy games have seen a resurgence in interest in recent years, real-time games never have, in large part because they dont work well on consoles and greatly benefit from mouse and keyboard controls, and high resolution monitors.Although Warcraft sister series Starcraft kept the real-time flag flying for a little while, thanks to its popularity as an esports game, by the mid-2000s the genre had completely fallen out of fashion, as new ideas dried up and even the most popular series experienced ever decreasing returns.Thats ironic given that the MOBA genre, including games such as League Of Legends and Dota, were born from mods made for Warcraft 3. That success came years later though and in the meantime Blizzard tried to expand Warcraft with a point n click graphic adventure. But that was also a dying genre at the time and production problems meant it was never completed.However, its story did influence work on World Of Warcraft, especially in terms of orc character Thrall, and in late 2004 the massively multiplayer online (MMO) game became an instant hit and remains to this day one of the most popular video games in the world.Technically, World Of Warcraft is an MMORPG, as most MMOs are, which means it works like a traditional action role-playing game but within a game world populated by hundreds of other human players, who you can co-operate with in group events or largely ignore if you want to play on your own. Although the setting and characters are the same, in gameplay terms World Of Warcraft has nothing in common with the original three games, so its going to be interesting to see what new players think of the remasters.The moment World Of Warcraft became a hit every publisher immediately tried to emulate it with their own MMO, in a rush to jump on the bandwagon, which is highly reminiscent of current attempts to follow in the footsteps of Fortnite and other live service titles. Especially in the fact that it quickly became clear that there was only room at the top for a small handful of games.At this point, World Of Warcraft has had 10 major expansions, with another two already announced. One of the secrets of the games success though, is that it also receives a constant stream of smaller, free updates that ensure theres always new things to do and reasons to keep playing.The 30th anniversary update, for example, is number 11.1 and called Undermined. Itll be out later this year and involves goblin capital city Undermine, where it adds a new dungeon to explore, a new PvP competitive map, and a new raid zone with eight different bosses. More unexpectedly it also adds cars, in which you can race through the city streets.Thats the sort of addition no one wouldve guessed at when World Of Warcraft first launched but given so much has changed over the last 20 years many players have begun to get nostalgic about how the game used to be, without all the modern additions. That led to the release of World Of Warcraft Classic in 2019, which has been slowly adding back in the new expansions in chronological order.But thats been going on for so long now that Blizzard has announced a classic Classic version of the game, resetting it for a second time and meaning therell now be three different versions of the game running at the same time. Officially known as World Of Warcraft: Classic 20th Anniversary Edition, the new (old) version will start on November 21 and offers a chance to play the original game as it was in 2004, before any of the expansions were released.Nevertheless, there will be some mod cons, such as the Chronoboon Displacer and the revamped honour ranking system. Plus, hardcore mode will be available from the start, where if you die thats it and theres no way to resurrect yourself although you can stay and chat as just a ghost.Its very likely that in another five years therell be a need for a third Classic version of the game, because World Of Warcraft as a whole has never had more players than right now. Thats in part because China has really got into it in recent years but its also a testament to the fact that if you keep your audience satisfied, some games really can last forever.Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is where it all began (Blizzard Entertainment)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.MORE : 00s pop icon completely ageless starring in Netflixs number one Christmas movieMORE : Xbox handheld in the works but its release date is surprisingMORE : Halo and Gears Of War can come to PS5 confirms Xbox bossSign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they're seen on the site.Privacy Policy This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Can the Xbox Series X be bottled into a handheld? (Microsoft)Microsoft has confirmed prototypes are being developed for an Xbox handheld, as it seeks to rival the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck.Over the past year, Microsoft has explicitly teased its next generation plans, as the Xbox Series X/S continues to lag behind its competitors.While weve heard the company boldly proclaim its next console will see the biggest technological leap ever in a generation, there have also been several clear indications that it is pursuing the handheld market from both Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox president Sarah Bond.Spencer has now confirmed Xbox is building prototypes for a handheld device, although it seems rumours of a 2026 release may be overly optimistic.In an interview with Bloomberg, Spencer said the expectation is that we would do something in the handheld gaming market, before confirming Microsoft is working on prototypes and considering how to market them.According to the report, Spencer has asked his team to analyse the handheld market and develop its vision based on what it learns. Crucially, Spencer is noted as saying that any device is still a few years out.While its unclear if this potential handheld will be the primary model for the next generation, it sounds like hes simply waiting to see what Nintendo pulls out of its hat with its impending Switch successor.Could it be a hybrid console like the Switch? (Nintendo)As for the near future, Spencer notes that the company is looking to improve the Xbox app on existing portable devices, and partner with hardware companies to make sure Xbox games are in sync with their platforms.Longer term, I love us building devices, Spencer added. And I think our team could do some real innovative work, but we want to be informed by learning and whats happening now.In the same interview, Spencer said there are no red lines when it comes to bringing Xbox games to other platforms. Xbox has doubled down on its multiplatform strategy over the past year, with its next major exclusive, Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, set to come to PlayStation 5 in 2025.With Nintendo, Valve, and (with the PlayStation Portal) Sony all finding success in the handheld space, its no surprise Xbox is planning a move into the market. The big question, which applies to its next gen plans in general, is what exactly Xbox can offer that the others dont.Indiana Jones And The Great Circle is Xboxs last hurrah for 2024 (Bethesda)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.MORE : The best early Black Friday 2024 deals on PS5, Xbox, and Switch consolesMORE : Black Myth: Wukong fans should check out this overlooked Xbox 360 gemMORE : Marvels Wolverine director changes allegiance from PS5 to join XboxSign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they're seen on the site.Privacy Policy This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Climate change and fish farming are endangering its future