All posts tagged: Wars

Who Will You Play in D&D’s New World of Warcraft and Star Wars Sets? CNET Answers

Who Will You Play in D&D’s New World of Warcraft and Star Wars Sets? CNET Answers

Published by skeptic

On the first evening of GenCon 2026, in a venerable theater that Wizards of the Coast took over for a weekend’s worth of Dungeons & Dragons activities, the team behind the biggest tabletop roleplaying game in the world revealed its next year of upcoming adventures.  There was plenty of news to look forward to, including the triumphant return of D&D legends to contribute to classic D&D settings like R.A. Salvatore (The Legend of Drizzt), Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis (Dragonlance) and Luke Gygax (Greyhawk, one of the earliest D&D settings created by his father, Gary Gygax). Among the banquet of table offerings was outreach to other corners of nerd culture — including new sets for World of Warcraft and Star Wars planned for this year and next. The new series, Universes Beyond, works much like the same-named subset of Magic: The Gathering releases: adapting fan-favorite franchises to the game’s system. In D&D’s case, this means adapting the iconic signature, villains, boss fights and regions for D20 rules. Yes, that means you can fight the Lich …

D&D Rolls a Natural 20 on Nerd Collabs, Announcing World of Warcraft and Star Wars Sets

D&D Rolls a Natural 20 on Nerd Collabs, Announcing World of Warcraft and Star Wars Sets

Published by skeptic

Today, I can play a game of Dungeons & Dragons around the table with my friends where humans, elves and orcs battle in campaigns of fantasy adventure. But the best-known tabletop roleplaying game in the world is moving beyond its own universe. Soon, dice-rollers all over will be able to play pen-and-paper versions of World of Warcraft and Star Wars with official D&D rules. On the opening night of GenCon, the massive annual tabletop gaming convention in Indianapolis, D&D creator Wizards of the Coast announced the news during its keynote at the grand Indiana Repertory Theater. These two partnerships are the first in the new Universes Beyond line and, just like the identically named series from Magic: The Gathering, will fold creative universes from other companies into D&D.  By the end of the year, players can buy the core World of Warcraft rulebook and make their own adventures with features from the popular massively multiplayer online RPG that fit in the D&D system. They’ll be able to build their own characters from species and classes …

AI price wars: OpenAI cuts GPT-5.6 Luna prices by 80% as model competition shifts toward cost

AI price wars: OpenAI cuts GPT-5.6 Luna prices by 80% as model competition shifts toward cost

Published by skeptic

To quote an ancient Jedi Master “Begun, the AI price wars have!” OpenAI is sharply reducing the prices of two models in its GPT-5.6 frontier series, cutting GPT-5.6 Luna, the smallest and fastest model in the series, by 80% and GPT-5.6 Terra, the mid-tier model, by 20%, while adding a premium Fast mode for its flagship GPT-5.6 Sol model. The cuts place Luna much closer to the lowest-cost commercial models in the market and arrive just a few days after Anthropic released its highly performant Claude Opus 5 at the same price as Opus 4.8, and Google introduced Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, two rival models built around lower inference costs, faster execution and more efficient agent workloads. OpenAI is successfully undercutting Google’s price per intelligence and attempting to sway Anthropic users, who may not mind paying more, with a speed boost. OpenAI says Luna will now cost $0.20 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens, for a combined input-plus-output price of $1.40 per million tokens. Terra will cost $2 …

What do we owe the victims of Lindsey Graham’s wars?

What do we owe the victims of Lindsey Graham’s wars?

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — The last time I saw Lindsey Graham, I was sitting directly behind Hanan Shaheen. Hanan had come to testify before Congress in September 2024 about the murder of her 6-year-old son, Wadee Alfayoumi. Just days after Oct. 7, 2023, Wadee was stabbed 26 times in his Illinois home by the man who had been his family’s landlord. Hanan herself barely survived the attack. She later asked me to accompany her as she appeared before Congress. From my seat behind her, I could see both of them. In front of me sat a grieving mother trying to describe the indescribable. Across the room sat Sen. Lindsey Graham. Throughout the hearing, I found myself looking toward him. I kept wondering whether he would acknowledge her presence. Whether he would look into the eyes of a grieving mother. Whether, if even for a moment, politics would give way to some semblance of humanity. I never saw that moment come.  The same man who urged Israel to “flatten Gaza,” who defended expanding the war even as the civilian death toll mounted, who …

A cute life-size Grogu toy from Star Wars is set to hit store shelves – but with not such a cute price tag

A cute life-size Grogu toy from Star Wars is set to hit store shelves – but with not such a cute price tag

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more An adorable, life-size animatronic Grogu is headed to store shelves next year, but the colloquial Baby Yoda’s price tag isn’t as cute. Hasbro unveiled its Ultimate Grogu Tuesday at San Diego Comic-Con, where the premium collectible quickly became one of the convention’s biggest attractions. The lifelike companion carries a hefty $599.99 price tag and debuted alongside a slate of new Marvel, Lego and Star Wars merchandise aimed at fans and collectors. Built at a 1:1 scale, Ultimate Grogu is designed to look and behave just like the beloved character from the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. The animatronic features more than 250 unique animations, powered by four motors and 14 sensors that respond when fans touch its head, hands, cheeks or back. Grogu blinks, wiggles …

A cute life-size Grogu toy from Star Wars is set to hit store shelves – but with not such a cute price tag

A new animatronic toy Grogu from Star Wars is set to hit store shelves – for a whopping $600

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more An adorable, life-size animatronic Grogu is headed to store shelves next year, but the colloquial Baby Yoda’s price tag isn’t as cute. Hasbro unveiled its Ultimate Grogu Tuesday at San Diego Comic-Con, where the premium collectible quickly became one of the convention’s biggest attractions. The lifelike companion carries a hefty $599.99 price tag and debuted alongside a slate of new Marvel, Lego and Star Wars merchandise aimed at fans and collectors. Built at a 1:1 scale, Ultimate Grogu is designed to look and behave just like the beloved character from the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. The animatronic features more than 250 unique animations, powered by four motors and 14 sensors that respond when fans touch its head, hands, cheeks or back. Grogu blinks, wiggles …

Open weights vs. closed: An AI civil war’s afoot, and the stakes are existential

Open weights vs. closed: An AI civil war’s afoot, and the stakes are existential

Published by skeptic

StudioM1/iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways The conflict between open and closed large language models is on. Open weights and open source are not the same, but open weights are the future. On the proprietary side are Anthropic and OpenAI; on the other, most everyone else. The open-weight Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 is faster than Anthropic Fable 5 in some ways, and is nearly as fast as Fable 5 and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 in others. That’s fast. And that has some American AI companies and the Trump administration worried.  Michael Kratsios, Trump’s director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, has claimed that “Moonshot AI distilled Anthropic’s Fable for the development of its K3.” In short, he’s suggesting that China’s Moonshot stole from Anthropic. That’s not how everyone sees it. Many US AI companies see Moonshot’s open-weight methods as perfectly legitimate.   Also: AI Model Release Tracker You might think it would be simple — good guys versus bad guys — but it’s …

Star Wars Zero Company | Release date, pre-order and latest news

Star Wars Zero Company | Release date, pre-order and latest news

Published by Daniella Wilson

The Star Wars Zero Company release date has been confirmed and you’ll be commanding your squad through turn-based strategy levels soon! This gritty and authentic Star Wars story will have gameplay and systems familiar to those who enjoy a game of XCOM or two. Set during the time of the Clone Wars, you’ll have to make tough choices and strategise your way to success throughout the game’s singleplayer-only campaign. Interested? Keep reading to find out everything there is to know about the SWZC release date and where to pre-order. Skip to the end of the page to watch a trailer! When is the Star Wars Zero Company release date? The Star Wars Zero Company release date is 27 August 2026, EA has confirmed. Yep, it’s another game in the long list of titles launching in August/September 2026 – the schedule is stacked. Want to see this content? This page contains content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view …

Trump meets Zelenskyy as Russia-Ukraine, U.S.-Iran wars collide

Trump meets Zelenskyy as Russia-Ukraine, U.S.-Iran wars collide

Published by Sam Flores

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) meets with US President Donald Trump (R) at White House during his visit to Washington, D.C, United States on July 28, 2026. Zelenskyy Social Media Account | Anadolu | Getty Images Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is at the White House on Tuesday for talks with President Donald Trump, as he looks to shore up support for Kyiv at a time when the Russia and Iran conflicts have shown signs of converging. The meeting comes as the U.S war against Iran and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine reach critical junctures. Trump has paused airstrikes against Iran as part of a push to give diplomacy another chance, while Zelenskyy has been galvanized by a flurry of deep-strike successes on Russian territory. The meeting represents a chance for Zelenskyy to further improve his relationship with Trump, roughly 17 months on from an Oval Office meeting that unraveled into an extraordinary shouting match. The visit also coincides with a renewed congressional push to tighten sanctions on Moscow. The Senate is scheduled to hold a …

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review Part 5

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review Part 5

Published by Jenni Sidey

Enter Rey: The Mary Sue and Genre Expectations In the previous review, Finn found himself marooned on a desert planet and had gone in search of a town. Now, clearly, he finds a town; otherwise, the movie would be over, and, in this town, he meets Rey, who is far and away the most controversial character in the franchise. Much has been said about her, but I intend to look at Rey from a writing perspective, using the criterion I described in the first article of this series. To keep immersion/suspension of disbelief, the writer tends to utilize a combination of rules, promises, and payoffs so the audience can understand the stakes. The moment an audience member begins asking undesired questions, the writer risks throwing that audience member out of immersion. This is very applicable to Rey, but to understand why, I must first address the Mary Sue issue. A Mary Sue is basically an overpowered character who is inexplicably admired by most, if not all, the cast. A female is referred to colloquially as a Mary Sue, and a …