A top official at the General Services Administration said artificial intelligence could be used to identify waste and redundancies in federal contracts.

Download the February 2025 issue of the Enterprise Spotlight from the editors of CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World.

An unprecedented rebuilding process in Los Angeles County is rapidly afoot in the aftermath of the deadly wind-fueled wildfires that broke out across the city on January 7th, 2025.Leading their professional colleagues in the AIA Los Angeles chapters Ad Hoc Disaster Relief Task Force response are Co-chairs Mohamed Sharif of Sharif, Lynch and Greg Kochanowski of Practice (formerly GGA+).They spoke to Archinect about the difficulties and challenges that lie ahead as the process begins to repair a community that has lost more than 10,000 structures. Kochanowski describes the architecture communitys response as "an uplifting testament to collective altruism and allyship in a challenging time and landscape."In a conversation with Archinect, Kochanowski and Sharif reflect on the "careful urgency" they will be applying to their consortium's efforts in the replies to our questions below.Can you define your roles as Co-Chairs of the Task Force?Greg Kochanowski: As Co-Chairs of the AIA|...

Well, here we are again. Somehow, we once again find ourselves in the aftermath of a high profile BioWare failure, once again find the studio scrambling to recover, and once again find ourselves wondering what its future is going to look like. For a decade, at this point, BioWare has been caught in a relentless downward spiral, for the third time in a row, a major new BioWare release has ended up disappointing in more ways than one, casting doubts over the studios capability to deliver the sort of high quality games it was once so strongly associated with.The failures ofMass Effect: AndromedaandAnthem critical or commercial are well documented and dont need to be relitigated for the thousandth time, and sure,Dragon Age: The Veilguardis certainly nowhere near as much of a disaster as those two were (especiallyAnthem). But even though it represent a gradual climb in the studios graph, its still a far cry from BioWare at its best.The fantasy action RPG suffered a horrendously long development cycle, one that was marked with numerous delays and reboots and behind-the-scenes development issues, and you can certainly feel a lot of that in the game itself. The fact that it comes as a largely underwhelming experience after an interminable ten year gap separating it from its predecessor didnt make things much better.Sure,Dragon Age: The Veilguardhas some fans of its own, and no, its not abadgame- but it is one that, according to large portions of its playerbase, is a disappointing one, to one degree or another. Not only has that been reflected in the lukewarm reception for the game since its October release, it has also not sold to the level that BioWare or publisher EA would have hoped for. EA recently revealed that the game had only been played by 1.5 million players since its launch, and that its underperformance contributed to a whopping $6 billion market value loss for the company. Clearly, on multiple fronts, the game underperformed.Unfortunately, repercussions have followed, as they often do in the wake of a high profile AAA failure. We know that BioWare has no plans forDragon Age: The VeilguardDLC, and that the studio is now fully focused on the nextMass Effect.But as it turns its attention to the long awaited sci-fi RPG series revival, its restructuring and reorganizing in a way that doesnt seem to be for the best by any stretch of the imagination. The manner in which these changes are taking place, meanwhile, only make the situation that much worse.We are, unfortunately, talking once again about layoffs. BioWare GM Gary McKay recently confirmed in a blog post that the studio is restructuring forMass Effect 5sdevelopment. The project is still in the early stages of production, which means its not as a stage where it needs a large team working on it. As a result, a number of people from BioWare have been reallocated to other in-development projects across other EA studios, while several who worked onDragon Age: The Veilguardhave also been laid off.Layoffs always suck, of course, but this round in particular seems to have been handled especially poorly. In McKays aforementioned blog post, for instance, there has been no mention of any roles being eliminated whatsoever. Its only because many whose roles have been cut have taken to social media to confirm the same. Worse still is the fact that a number of people who have been let go were long-time BioWare veterans who had had crucial roles to play in the development of some of the studios best past titles.This comes on the back off another round of layoffs in 2023 that eliminated 50 roles at the studio, which also included several longtime studio employees who had had heavy involvement in past successes. Studio leadership stated at the time that the cuts were made to turn into a leaner and more agile team, which, incidentally, is the exact same messaging going along with this fresh round of cuts. One has to wonder, however, just how lean and agile a studio that has been hollowed out from the inside out is going to be.Which brings us to what might be one of the biggest problems BioWare continues to face- the slow erosion of the studios identity. Over the course of recent years, the developer has bled a shocking amount of talent, and of particular note has been the mass exodus of veteran talent that had been responsible for so much great work. Either through successive rounds of layoffs or people choosing to depart themselves, BioWare has lost a great many people who made significant contributions to some of its best games ever. And one cant help but wonder with growing concern whether the BioWare name even means what it used to mean anymore, given the fact that the vast majority of the people who made that studio what it is no longer work there.Someof the studios older heads are still there, of course. McKays blog post made it a point to note that the next Mass Effect,for instance, is being led by a team of veterans who also worked on the original trilogy, including including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, and Parrish Ley, and obviously, were desperately hoping that that team will be able to recapture that old BioWare magic again. The originalMass Effecttrilogy was arguably BioWare at its very best, so for a fan of the studio and the series, there would be nothing better than seeing a newMass Effectgame finally pulling BioWare out of its slump.But this is a slump that has dragged on for a decade now. Yes,Mass Effect Legendary Editionoffered a temporary retrieve a handful of years ago, but it was, in the end, only a remastered collection. The last three major games the developer has put out have all been disappointments to varying degrees, and at this point, even the most blindingly hopeful and optimistic person will be feeling some concern about what the future will bring. Our doubts are only doubled by how slowlyMass Effectsdevelopment seems to be progressing. It was all the way back in 2020 that the series next outing was confirmed to be in the works, but half a decade later, it is still only in pre-production and evidently several years away from release.With a team of veterans working on it, with the internal development pipeline hopefully being fixed and rethought (hopefully leading to fewer development reboots this time), and with so muchriding on it, our hope is that the nextMass Effectgame will be able to flourish. Because honestly, if it cannot, if it somehow ends up being a fourth successive failure for BioWare and once again fails to come anywhere close to its past glories- if that happens, Im afraid the studio might not survive another prominent failure.Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

More than almost any other genre, RPG fans never have any shortage of great new games in their preferred genre to dive into and look forward to. Among the many promising RPGs looming on the horizon right now, few are looking quite as promising asKingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Though not without its flaws and rough edges, its predecessor has won over more than a few fans since its release several years ago, and now, its sequel is promising an interesting evolution of that formula.Few games have even attempted to deliver onKingdom Come: Deliverances premise of a rich, open world RPG rooted in a semi-authentic historical setting, so naturally, the sequels promise of a bigger and more expansive experience that just does that but with several lessons learned from the first game is one that has turned a fair few heads. Ahead ofKingdom Come: Deliverance 2slaunch, then, here, were going to go over five such key reasons that have got us excited for the action RPG.HISTORICAL SETTINGThe historical setting is basically synonymous with the Kingdom Come: Deliverance series. Its what made the original pitch stand out. Imagine a role playing game with the systemic depth and flexibility of something like The Elder Scrolls, or a narrative as driven by player choice as something like Mass Effect. But instead of a science fiction or fantasy setting, you place it in the real world, in an actual recorded era of history. You play through the life of a man in this era, from childhood on, and see the world through his eyes.Its an extremely interesting concept an RPG where youre not relying on magic and alien powers, one where the lore and backstory of the world you are in is the history of the real one. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 takes place in 15th Century Bohemia, set directly after its predecessor ended, and will presumably dig deeper into the world as it stood at the time- from the tumultuous internal conflict the land is facing, to the shifting allegiances and friendships that the complex political landscape of the era entailed. Whether or not Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will take the steps to address the deficiencies in the historical accuracy of its predecessor remains to be seen, but regardless, it will certainly stand out for being a unique experience that has few, if any, big budget analogs.MASSIVE OPEN WORLDThe historical tourism aspect is obviously a huge part ofKingdom Come: Deliverance, but just as important to the experience is the size and scope of the world itself. The original game was certainly no slouch in this area, to the extent that a similarly sized sequels would by no means have raised any eyebrows. WhatKingdom Come: Deliverance 2is promising, however, is something significantly more expansive. The upcoming sequel is going to have not one, but two full-sized open world maps for players to explore.One of these maps is going to be set in and around Kuttenburg, a dense and thriving city. Back in the early 15th century (which is when this game is set), Kuttenburg was one of the biggest and most active economic hubs in Bohemia, courtesy of its silver mining industry. Getting to explore a dense urban locale inKingdom Come: Deliverance 2 especially with the series implicit promise of detail and historical immersion is an exciting prospect. The action RPGs developers have also confirmed that the game is going to have more than enough content to keep players occupied for hundreds of hours, not to mention a script exceeding 2.2 million words in length, so clearly, its going to be quite an odyssey.CHOICE AND CONSEQUENCE MECHANICSChoice and consequence mechanics in an RPG arent exactly groundbreaking theyve been a staple of the genre for decades at this point, and weve seen some incredible implementations over the years but they are certainly always welcome, which means we arent complaining about their inclusion in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. In fact, were positively intrigued by what the game may bring to the table on this front, because it includes not just the standard choice and mechanics system that players may be used to you know, making different choices that lead to different outcomes for the story or for the quests, including and up to multiple endings influenced by the choices you made but a new system that, in theory, could really add to the games immersion and variability.In Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, every action that Henry makes is remembered by all the NPCs in his vicinity. From then on, their memory of what Henry did, and how they feel about it, will end up influencing their behaviour towards him in the future. This doesnt just mean small micro-changes to NPC conversations and the like, but theoretically can even alter how certain quests play out, all due to the dispositions of the NPCs involved in them. Again, it remains to be seen how this actually works, but it definitely sounds like an interesting wrinkle to how choice and consequence in RPGs has worked for the longest time, and we are interested to learn more.ECCENTRIC MECHANICSThe originalKingdom Come: Deliveranceis remembered strongly and fondly by a sizeable audience, and many might argue that a lot of that is down to the games insistence on being its own weird self. Admittedly, a byproduct of that is some frustrating design choices and eccentric mechanics that might put some players off such as the way even something like saving is done through limited potions but many of the games staunchest fans will tell you that those eccentricities are a huge part ofKingdom Come: Deliverancesidentity, and what made it stand out from the crowd.Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2is promising to build on those foundations, and were excited about that prospect. The likes ofElden Ring, Dragons Dogma 2,andS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobylhave proven to be recent reminders of just how compelling (and successful) even the most unusual and eccentric open world experiences can be when theyre well designed, and our hope is thatKCD2will join that list. If nothing else, those kinds of experiences tend to stay much longer in memory than the majority of your run-of-the-mill open world titles (of which we have no shortage).IMPROVED COMBAT AND PROGRESSIONThe original KCDscombat was one among its several weaker departments, though its upcoming sequel promising a more refined experience in that regard. Several improvements have been confirmed, including new ranged weapon types (like crossbows and firearms), and, crucially enough, all weapons are going to be meaningfully different from each other in how theyre used and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Thats on top of improvements to controls, responsiveness, animations, and what have you, so hopefully, combat will be much tighter.Similarly, progression is also being expanded. Unlike with combat, the first game wasnt necessarily weak in this area, soKCD2is starting from a stronger base. In total, players will be managing six different skill trees (compared to the first games three), which means the progression mechanics should ideally have greater range and be more expansive.Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2is already making a point to focus on players choice and options in several areas, as weve already touched on, so for genre fans, its great to see that applying to the progression mechanics as well.

Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida has been speaking his mind and sharing his opinions lately following his exit from Sony, and now he's discussed his thoughts on the recent Switch 2 reveal.Appearing on the MinnMax podcast, as reported by VGC, Yoshida said the Switch 2 reveal event was underwhelming and that the only major surprise was the event's lack of surprises."I was surprised there were not many surprises," Yoshida said. "The only surprise to me was the mice thing that they showed."Continue Reading at GameSpot

A co-founder of the Call of Duty studio Treyarch recently pleaded guilty to striking a firefighting plane with a drone during the recent LA fires. Under the plea deal, Peter T. Akemann will avoid the potential penalty of a year in prison and will instead perform 150 hours of community service, particularly in the area of Southern California's wildfire relief efforts. The deal also includes a $65,000 fine, the cost of repairing the firefighting plane in question.According to the plea agreement, Akemann flew a drone over the area of the Palisades Fire while a "Super Scooper" water-dumping plane was conducting operations in the area. His drone struck the plane's wing, causing enough damage that it had to be grounded for a period of time.US attorney Joseph McNally, one of the prosecutors on the case, released a statement noting that "flying drones during times of emergency poses an extreme threat to personnel trying to help people and compromises the overall ability of police and fire to conduct operations." He reiterated that those who do fly drones in those conditions will be arrested and prosecuted just like Akemann.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Pokemon TCG Pocket has taken the world by storm, with tens of millions of people downloading the game since its release in October of 2024. Although most people are still loving their time with it, one of the biggest complaints seems to be that there just isn't enough content, but that could all be about to change over the coming months.

Eleven years ago, the fourth adaptation of the most popular life simulation franchise, The Sims 4, was released for players with new levels of creativity and gameplay. Its launch sparked so much excitement (and still does with each expansion) with enhanced graphics, customizability, and even MORE dynamic storytelling options. The Sims 4 stands tall for its unlimited options to create Sims with emotional depth and a platform that allows players to explore millions of identities and experiences each time they play.

The hours Ive spent searching Google or Wikipedia for obscure things finally paid off when I played The Roottrees Are Dead, a mystery game that might ruin future mystery games for me. It isnt just that I had the right skills to know what names or terms to search for in its 90s web browser interface, its how easy it was to flip between evidence and notes while filling out its massive family tree.Everything in the game happens inside the UI of an old computer or on a corkboard covered with various pieces of evidence. The games clean visual design is crucial for sifting through all the clues you find, especially when theyre only tangentially related to the central case youre trying to solve, which involves identifying all the people connected to a family-owned candy company that ballooned into an empire over several decades. Part of the fun is chasing down a particular person or event so as to, at the very least, fill in some context around what happened to all the people youre trying to identify.Sometimes its as simple as finding a website that gives you the exact details you need: name, occupation, and a photo. But more often youll read about a company someone started or a crime they committed and will then end up looking through digital uploads of newspapers and magazines to get the rest of what you need. All of this work happens on different screens or computer apps, but its surprisingly easy to swap back and forth without losing your train of thought. As you navigate the in-game computer UI, you can highlight text to save it in your notes, search for it, or copy-paste it into other screens. The browsers back and forth buttons automatically switch between the different apps so you dont have to reopen each one individually. Everything gets out of the way so you can focus on the research.The dead ends can be frustrating, as they are in any mystery game like this, but the games hint system is so good I would encourage anyone who plays it to make liberal use of it. It will only tell you the answers after pointing you toward notable documents or people to look into, so its safe to check when youre not sure what to do next. Its also great at giving you a framework for how the games designer expects you to find information in the first place, which made me regret not using it earlier in my playthrough. The Roottree family is massive and it can be hard to know what date or anecdote is a clue or not, but the hint system can help guide you without spoiling the whole reason youre playing the game.Fussy menus wouldve buried how clever the storytelling is for a game that is about as mechanically complex as going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole. I found a forum post where someone mentioned a Silver screen magazene, but even when I fixed the spelling error, the periodicals app gave me no results. When I dropped it into the search engine, however, it asked if I meant SilverScreen Magazine with no space, which did give me the results I wanted. The game is full of little moments that make you feel extremely smart for being persistent about some piece of information you suspect is more important than it seems.Tiny details, like the color of someones hair or a name on a uniform, can knock something loose and help you uncover entire subplots to the Roottrees story. Its a whole timeline of miserable people and their petty betrayals over money and legacy. Nobody is particularly sympathetic, which makes digging through their history feel more like trying to piece together innocuous but delicious internet drama rather than a mystery with real stakes. Youre not uncovering a conspiracy so much as the generational disaster that one old white dude with too much money can set in motion.The Roottrees Are Dead is for those of us who are too nosy to stop ourselves from opening up Google and snooping around. It may look retro, but it feels no different than using a modern computer or app, which is precisely what makes it hard to put down until you have the whole messy picture.The Roottrees Are Deadwill be released Jan. 15 on Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. The game was reviewed on PC using a pre-release download code provided by Robin Ward. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can findadditional information about Polygons ethics policy here.