game

The first video game made entirely with AI comes to Steam. The players’ rejection has been almost unanimous.

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The video game industry receives a controversial experiment that some already describe as dystopian, although in reality it has much of a privileged look at a reality that is, potentially, around the corner. ‘Codex Mortis‘ is a title that is openly presented as the first video game developed entirely using artificial intelligence, which has released its demo version on Steam and has immediately unleashed a divided (but mostly hostile) response among the gamer community. What did you sew? The project, signed by a developer who signs with the pseudonym Grolaf, has generated controversy for its shameless proposal (a clone of the acclaimed indie hit ‘Vampire Survivors’, one of the great surprises of recent years, but replacing the delicious retropixelated aesthetic with the blurry and rough aesthetic typical of generative systems). But also, as it could not be otherwise, it has reopened the debate about the ethical and creative limits of AI in video game development. It comes at a time when major studios are facing similar accusations and sectors such as voice actors are organizing strikes against these technologies. I don’t like it. In the Steam community reviewsthe demo registers only 60% positive ratings among around thirty reviews, with comments that range between technical curiosity and, above all, outright rejection. The press has not been much more generous, and some means gives it the dubious honor of being “a foundational milestone of poorer AI.” Various websites They have collected opinions from players as strong as “games are ART. They need soul, life, virtue. Something that AI will never be able to capture”, which define the game as “machine-generated garbage.” How it was born. ‘Codex Mortis’ was developed over three months in which Grolaf exclusively used artificial intelligence tools to build all elements of the game. The developer used ChatGPT to generate the images and Claude Code to write the code. As a programming language it used TypeScript, instead of traditional engines such as Unity or Unreal Engine. The technical architecture is supported by libraries such as PIXI.js for graphics and Electron for desktop execution, a decision that apparently makes it difficult to correct errors, since the developer does not fully understand, by his own admission, how the systems generated by the AI ​​interact. The lightning that does not stop. The negative reaction to ‘Codex Mortis’ is not isolated, but the latest episode in a battle that has been shaking the industry for months. In November, for example, ‘Arc Raiders‘, Embark Studios’ extraction shooter, received a score of 2 out of 5 from Eurogamer exclusively due to its use of AI-generated voices. This rating sank the title’s Metacritic from an impressive 94 to 86, sparking a debate on whether the use of AI should be considered in critical assessments. Controversy escalated when the game received a single nomination at the Game Awards, leading many gamers to accuse the awards of deliberately punishing the title for its technology. Another case: ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’ included clearly AI-generated assets (with characters with the typical six fingers, among other visual irregularities characteristic of AI). The scandal forced Activision to issue supporting statements given the disclosure policy on the use of artificial intelligence that Valve requires to include in games sold on Steam. Rejection among professionals. The State of the Game Industry 2025 survey from the Game Developers Conference reveals a drastic change in the perception of AI by professionals: just 13% of developers consider that generative AI will have a positive impact on the industry, falling from 21% the previous year. The percentage of those who see it negatively shot up from 18% to 30%. The most revealing part of the study is who adopts these tools: 50% of the professionals are from Business and Finance, followed by 40% in Production and Marketing. However, among programmers and artists, the true creators, adoption is significantly lower. 87% of developers surveyed expressed concern on the impact of AI on the industry. In Xataka | Someone put ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other AIs to play a kind of Risk. The results could not be more different.

The creator of the new Game of Thrones tells how to do something different

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Yes, of course there was talk of ‘game of thrones‘. In the presentation of the new HBO Max news for 2026we had the opportunity to find out what awaited us from the platform’s most popular franchise in the coming months. We look at new images of the third season of ‘The House of the Dragon’, which will arrive in a few months, but above all, there was talk of the imminent premiere on January 18 of ‘The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, an unexpected turn in tone and visuals for the franchise. A change of third that, if it proves anything, is that we have ‘Game of Thrones for a while’. ‘The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ is the third television project in the Westeros universe created by George RR Martin and is based on the short novels that make up the ‘Tales of Dunk and Egg’ cycle. They narrate the adventures of a wandering knight and his young squire located between ‘The House of the Dragon’ (72 years later) and ‘Game of Thrones’ (172 years before), in a time where the Targaryens still occupy the Iron Throne but the dragons are now only a distant memory. The protagonists are Ser Duncan the Tall, Dunk (Peter Claffey), a humble and tall knight, and his squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), who actually hides his true identity as Aegon Targaryen, the future Aegon V. With a shorter and more concentrated format, with six half-hour episodes in its first seasonthe tone promises to be brighter and more adventurous, moving away from palace conspiracies and battles to focus on this journey through the paths of Westeros. And what we saw gave us the impression of an aesthetic identical to what we expect from the franchise, but with humor that borders on parody. This series serves to make it clear that there are many ‘Game of Thrones’ in ‘Game of Thrones’. We will see death, darkness and violence, but also gags typical of a sitcom. All while remaining a strong visual bet in the purest HBO style: costumes, photography and settings are on par with what we have seen in ‘The House of the Dragon’, and it is just as violent. A surprisingly talkative Ira Parker told us about all this, showrunner of the series. To make his own, distinctive version of the books, Martin says he did what the showrunners of the previous series did with the original work: “process it in your own style.” That is to say, “you are not looking for anything specific, the new style comes naturally according to your personality.” For example, Parker affirms that there is a lot of himself in the protagonistwhich “comes from the shittiest corner of Westeros.” What happens to him is that “all these princes, kings and queens he meets seem a little absurd to him. And he doesn’t really know if people are making fun of him or not, if they are serious or not. And from that situation many comedic scenes arise naturally.” And that’s why “this series is a good starting point for people who didn’t watch the original series because it was very dark. We take them by the hand on a lighter and kinder path to Westeros. And then it becomes the Westeros we know.” Because If there’s one thing fans don’t have to worry about, it’s fidelity to the original book. Parker says that from the first conversations with HBO and Martin himself, “the idea was that the story is the story. The story of these novellas, the beginning and the end, that’s what we’re going to tell.” But above all, respecting the original spirit: “That’s the fun of these books. Anyone can die at any time.” And also, according to Bloys, “with a final battle scene that is on par with what has been seen in ‘Game of Thrones’ or ‘House of the Dragon’.” And although Parker appreciates Bloys’ words, he makes a distinction: “the series identifies with Duncan to the point that everything, our music, our photography, our action and also our budget, is a reflection of someone who rises from nothing. Of course, there are great, very careful and epic series in this world. We are not one of them. We do what we can, like Duncan.” However, the heart of the series is not in the violence, but in “the relationship established between Duncan and Egg, which we have tried to take care of as much as possible. “We have two extraordinary actors who are basically good friends, that is, they became friends during filming, and we show that on the screen, we show a friendship that is forming.” In fact, he only has words of praise for the great discovery of the series, young Dexter Sol Ansell. He says it was the first audition for the character he ever saw, and he immediately wrote to the casting director: “I said, ‘Oh, perfect. He’s done it. He’s nailed it. What do we do now? Shall we hire him?’ and he said we had to go through a slightly longer casting process. We did, we ended up going back to that first audition. Dexter is a really special kid. He’s the best child actor who has ever lived on planet Earth.” In Xataka | George RR Martin asked ChatGPT to write ‘Game of Thrones’. He did it so well that he is going to end up before the judge

Putting four chickens in the yard seemed like a good idea to have cheap eggs. Bird flu just changed the rules of the game

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From November 13, 2025, there is no poultry farm in the country that can be outdoors. With mass confinement, the Government wants to contain the spread of the H5N1 bird flu. And it makes sense: so far this season, 14 outbreaks have already been recorded in poultry, several in captive birds and dozens in wild birds. The problem is everything that falls under the radar. “What do I do with my chickens?” In Spain, at least from 2024, all chickens must be registered. And yes, that includes ‘self-consumption’ chickens; some animals that, according to the data, they represent only 0.77% of the census (but all experts know there are many more). A report from El País from the spring of this year confirmed that “the figures do not reflect reality and that a large part of self-consumers have birds (especially the ISA Brown species) without census.” This has meant that in a context in which self-consumption does not have inspections (and lives unaware of animal health regulation), the doubts and risks have grown exponentially. As Cristina García Casado explained in InfoLibrethe question most frequently asked by veterinarians across the country is “what do I do with my chickens?” And the answer is very simple: confine them. Because the regulations do not understand sizes: a backyard chicken infected by contact with a wild bird can be just as big a problem as any other type of chicken. Or maybe more. After all, the European authorities they continue to qualify the risk to the general population as low; but they raise it to low-moderate for people in direct contact with infected birds or contaminated environments. Having unmonitored poultry increases the risk to the “civilian” population and if we are realistic we will recognize that they cannot be monitored. The problem has names and surnames: at least when it comes to the flu, all those domestic pens have the same sanitary requirements, but much less infrastructure. The ‘boom’ of homemade eggs. We must remember that this does not happen in a vacuum. The truth is that in recent years we have lived a real ‘boom’ in self-consumption chickens. It is the confluence of the “happy chickens” movements with the response of many citizens to a price that does nothing but go up. According to the National Institute of Statistics, have gone up 15.9% so far this year and, according to the OCUthe growth has been 105% compared to 2021. And, be careful, we are not talking about a luxury product. We are talking about what may be one of the proteins cheaper and more accessible of the world. Faced with this ‘ovoflation’, the accounts are clear: “a hen costs about nine euros, it is easy to raise and maintain with fruit, vegetables and feed, and it lays an egg every 25 hours.” How can there not be a problem? What to do if I have a chicken coop for self-consumption? If we are in that situation (or are thinking about setting up our own domestic corral) there are some things to keep in mind: Whether larger or smaller, the corral must be registered in the REGA (General Registry of Livestock Operations). Implement confinement and biosecurity measures: separate chickens from any contact with wild birds; control inputs and outputs; record all changes in a log book. Improve cleaning conditions, more frequent bed renewal and tightening daily management protocols. Introduce wellness programs to contain the problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle. But, above all, be extremely vigilant. There are many warning signs (apathy, drop in production, high mortality or flu symptoms). Therefore, it is best to be alert. Anything can happen. Image | Finn Mund In Xataka | H5N1 bird flu unleashes a massacre in Antarctica: half of the female seals have already disappeared

We know that role-playing video games were born 50 years ago. What we don’t know exactly is which game was the first

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If when they ask you about the first role-playing video game in history, a legendary franchise will undoubtedly come to mind: ‘Dungeons & Dragons‘. The influence of the then newborn board role-playing game was undeniable in the first titles of the genre, but to determine a foundational touchstone we have a serious problem: there are several candidates. The first roles. In 1975, half a century agothe genre of role-playing video games as we know it was born. Just one year after Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson will publish ‘Dungeons & Dragons‘, different American university students They transferred the board game experience to computer systems of the time (huge mainframes or data systems), creating titles like ‘dnd’, ‘pedit5’ and ‘Dungeon’. Those experiments laid the foundations for the industry along with early icons like ‘Spacewar’, but determining which came first is not so easy. Why D&D. Dungeons & Dragons It sold 3,000 copies during its first year.a modest figure but behind which there is a great cultural impact among university students. Some of the concepts that ‘D&D’ introduced in early role-playing games (life points, accumulating experience, progression by levels, character classes, dice system – that is, chance – to resolve combat…) were of a statistical nature. It was ideal to be processed by computerswho calculated probabilities faster than any human game master. The convergence was inevitable: American campuses brought together both programmers with access to computers and players obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons. Sometimes it was the same people. What was PLATO. This proto-internet served as the basis for many of these games to spread: its acronym is equivalent to Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations, it was developed at the University of Illinois in 1960, and was born as an educational tool, although it ended up going far beyond that initial purpose. Towards the mid-seventies This network connected approximately a dozen mainframes with several thousand terminals distributed globally. The system incorporated revolutionary technologies for the time: plasma screens with a resolution of 512×512 pixels, interfaces 16×16 touch points and transmission speed of 1,200 bits per second. But his true legacy was to become a precursor to the Internet by including discussion forums, email, chat rooms and, at a certain point in its history, real-time multiplayer video games. In this way, and as it could not be otherwise, the university students subverted the initially academic purpose of PLATO: the programmers disguised their games with names that pretended to be educational files to avoid being detected and deleted by university administrators (hence the cryptic titles, almost based on acronyms, of some games). The pioneer dungeon. In this way, and thanks to the possibilities that PLATO offered, during 1975 several programmers worked without knowing each other on the creation of the first RPG for computer. Rusty Rutherford, a 35-year-old doctoral student at the University of Illinois, developed ‘pedit5‘ (also called ‘The Dungeon’). The game featured a fixed 40-50 room dungeon with random monster and treasure encounters, establishing the concept of the “dungeon crawl”. The character combined the three classic ‘D&D’ classes: warrior, wizard and cleric. Players generated attributes such as Strength, Dexterity, Constitution and Intelligence, and had eight different spells at their disposal. The random nature of the encounters made it a direct precursor of the roguelike. The game could only hold 20 simultaneous characters, a limit that became a problem when its popularity exploded. The first final boss in history. Southern Illinois University students Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood completed ‘dnd‘ (‘The Game of Dungeons’) after ‘pedit5’ demonstrated the viability of the concept. ‘dnd’ expanded its offering with multiple dungeon levels, a teleporter system, and allowed players to leave the dungeon, recover, and return later, gradually accumulating power over multiple sessions. Its big innovation was a scoring system inspired by pinball machines, which made players collect gold and leave. The solution was to create an ultimate goal, the Orb, guarded by a dragon in the deepest levels. Thus, it was the first video game to feature a “boss fight”, a final climatic encounter. Technical sophistication. In California, meanwhile, Don Daglow was programming his own game, Dungeonfor him mainframe PDP-10 from Claremont University. Daglow implemented sophisticated mechanics: line of sight, fog of war, automapping, and NPCs with rudimentary artificial intelligence. The game required 36K of RAM, a very notable amount at the time. Finally, on November 4, 1975, John Daleske, Gary Fritz and their team released a second game called ‘Dungeon’ on PLATO, considered as one of the first MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons). That same year ‘Moria’ also appeared, by Kevet Duncombe and Jim Battin, allowing up to ten simultaneous players in the same game, which is a direct precedent for future MMORPGs. In Xataka | Virtual dungeons: The successes and failures of bringing ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ to video games

George RR Martin asked ChatGPT to write ‘Game of Thrones’. He did it so well that he is going to end up before the judge

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The debate about the AI usage limits and how is this going to actually affect the creators It is very complex, and it has only just begun. From discerning to what extent AI’s ability to create works outside of humans will continue to grow to the logical ethical and legal concerns that appear around a tool that, from its very definition, is in a completely unexplored area. At the moment, George RR Martin and other authors are taking steps in search of more demanding regulation. What has happened? A federal judge in Manhattan has given the green light for the lawsuit filed by George RR Martin and other authors against OpenAI and Microsoft for alleged copyright violation. The creator of ‘Game of Thrones’ and his colleagues accuse these companies of use his works without authorization to train ChatGPT. According to the ruling issued on October 27, 2025, there are reasons for the case to move forward, since ChatGPT’s proposal for a sequel to the saga was substantially similar to Martin’s work already protected by copyright. The determining test. It came when lawyers asked ChatGPT to create a fictional sequel to ‘A Clash of Kings’. The chatbot immediately spawned a novel called ‘Dance of Shadows’, a sequel that included a new Targaryen heir named Lady Elara, a rebellious sect of the Children of the Forest, and a mysterious form of ancient dragon-related magic. This ability to recreate elements from Martin’s universe made the question clear: how could the AI ​​know his work in such detail without having fed on it? The precedents. The origins of this legal conflict date back to September 2023, when Martin, accompanied by 17 other authors (including people like Michael Chabon, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jia Tolentino, John Grisham, Jonathan Franzen and Sarah Silverman) raised his voice against what he considered a systematic exploitation of his work. The case was brought by the Authors Guild union, in a lawsuit that spoke of “systematic theft on a massive scale”, arguing that the tool makes use of their works without paying royalties and without the writers’ consent. The letter. Months before the lawsuit, these authors and many others, such as Margaret Atwood or Nora Roberts, they had sent a letter to large technology companies conveying their concerns about generative AI technologies. In that document they warned about “the injustice inherent in exploiting our works as part of your AI systems without our consent, credit or compensation.” The accusation was clear: ChatGPT had not only learned from his books; Now I could replicate them. Other attacks. We are at a key moment in determining the legal implications of generative AI. At the beginning of 2025, for example, it was decided by the juries a similar dispute against Anthropicwhich concluded with an out-of-court settlement: the company paid $1.5 billion to authors whose works were used without permission. This precedent shows that technology companies are willing to negotiate to avoid court rulings that could establish binding jurisprudence. In England, by contrast, the High Court of England determined that Stability AI did not infringe copyright by train your model with Getty imagesthat is, a decision in literally the opposite direction, which has generated alarm among European creators. In all these cases the debate about “fair use” or fair use: The technology companies argue that the training of their models constitutes a transformative use of works, similar to when search engines index content. The creators reply that it is a massive appropriation that replaces, not complements, the original work. And in the background, a shock that has only just begun. Header |Gage Skidmore

It is equal to a three euro Steam game

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On September 2 a story started whose end is still expected to be long. That day, the United States claimed that it had shot down a drug boat off the coast of Venezuela. From then until now the tension levels have been increasing with continuous arrival of a Washington fleet in the area and a disturbing idea that floats in the air about the true magnitude of Washington’s movement. And, in response, Venezuela has just presented a simulator for its navy. A Russian video game. They counted it on Insider. At the Military Academy of the Bolivarian Army of Venezuela, in Caracas, they spread recently images of young cadets learning to handle kamikaze drones through flight simulators. The machines, covered and equipped with joysticks and flat screens, were intended to show the technological leap of the Venezuelan army in terms of unmanned warfare. However, the video images caused international surprise: the software used is practically identical (if not the same) to the Russian video game FPV Kamikaze Dronedeveloped by the company HFM Games and sold on the Steam platform for just $3.99. The shadow of the copy. The interface, graphics, engine physics and even the mission selection menu are exactly the same. From Moscow, the studio’s own co-founder, Aleksei Kolotilov, confirmed that there was never contact with the Venezuelan government nor any adaptation of the program for military purposes. “Our game was created only for civil entertainment,” he said, ironically saying that, if Caracas wanted to thank the “involuntary collaboration,” they could “send a couple of barrels of oil” in exchange for fixing some software bugs. Cheap simulators. He institutional videospread between patriotic speeches and slogans of loyalty, was published just when the tension between the United States and Venezuela reached one of its peaks. highest peaks in years, fueling fears of an open confrontation. In other materialthe army commander, General Johan Hernández Lárez, solemnly states that the young people are “ready to destroy the enemy”, while a cadet shows how his virtual drone is launched against a complex of buildings, in a recreation identical to the missions of the Russian game. In another broadcast recording For the academy itself, a uniformed presenter thanks the Armed Forces for the “joint effort” that allowed them to acquire the simulators, while dozens of cadets practice in a row of terminals with recreational aesthetics. From Ukraine to Caracas. we have told before: FPV drones have become a lethal tool low-cost, popularized by the Ukrainian army and quickly adopted by powers and developing countries. Unlike reconnaissance drones, FPVs are operated as if the operator were inside them, allowing for precise attacks at low cost. Their proliferation has transformed battlefields, democratizing the ability to inflict harm. In the Ukrainian war, pilots train with digital programsbut they must also demonstrate their expertise in real tests before operating in combat. Armies around the world have taken note, and now even countries without a technological tradition, like Venezuela, are seeking to adapt the model with limited resources. The symbolic effect. The use of a commercial video game as a supposed military simulator reveals the paradox of the Venezuelan defense apparatus: an army that exhibits power, but depends from improvised means. In a context of international sanctions, technological isolation and scarce resources, the adoption of Russian civilian software to train officers becomes both a propaganda gesture and a symbol of precariousness. Unlike the United States or Ukraine itself, where learning is completed with real practices, the Venezuelan army seems to resort to low cost solutions to project an image of modernization. However, beyond the irony of a cheap video game being transformed into a military tool, the episode reflects another global trend: the blurring of the border between digital entertainment and real war, where the preparation of soldiers and the simulation of combat can depend, literally, on software designed for gaming. Image | Military Academy of the Bolivarian Army In Xataka | The US has sent B-1 bombers into Venezuelan airspace: everything that is happening is close to a word In Xataka | The US has several warships deployed off Venezuela. Venezuela has a Soviet missile capable of penetrating them

‘GTA 6’ is the most anticipated game, but it is not clear if it is so untouchable as to emerge unscathed from the continuous delays

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Rockstar has dropped a new bomb that, like before in the pastmakes the video game industry shake: GTA VI will not arrive in spring 2026 as planned. The most anticipated game of the decade is delayed until November 19, 2026, adding six more months to the wait. That is, one year from this moment. Reactions of discontent from fans have not been long in coming, but beyond the digital noise, an uncomfortable question arises: can Rockstar afford these continuous delays without its reputation, its finances or its dominant position being affected? Are they really that untouchable? Keep winning. Rockstar continues to have a privileged position. Take-Two Interactive, its parent company, reported in November 2024 about net profits of $1.96 billionits best fiscal second quarter in history. The reason? A video game released in 2013 that continues to sell as if it were a novelty: ‘GTA V’ has exceeded 220 million copies soldconsolidating itself as the second best-selling video game of all time, only behind Minecraft. The entire saga has sold more than 425 million units. They are not simple numbers. These monstrous sales are the only excuse Rockstar needs to operate under its own rules. While other studios live game by game, Rockstar swims in a pool of money generated by a game that is more than a decade old. And it goes further: ‘GTA Online’, the multiplayer component of GTA V, does not stop giving benefits with constant updates and microtransactions. This economic reality confirms that Rockstar does not need to rush: there are no investors or producers demanding immediate results, and they can take all the time in the world. Some financial cracks. However, if we closely examine this invulnerability we can find some flaws. The stock market has sent alarm signals with each delay: Take-Two shares have fallen up to 18% after the announcement of the last delay to November 2026, before stabilizing. In the first delay to May 2026, shares fell 10%going from $235.17 to approximately $211 – billions of dollars in market value evaporating in minutes. Problems in the offices. And to this is added that last week we learned that the studio had laid off between 30 and 40 employees in its offices in the United Kingdom and Canada. The IWGB union accused the company of union bustingdescribing an increasingly tense work environment. The team, after so much delay, is working under monumental pressure. The news of these layoffs comes at a critical time in development. Are they a symptom of a management that, despite its financial muscle, is beginning to show cracks in its work model? Delays have a human cost in the form of tyrannical days and burned out professionals, not very pleasant details that have already appeared in the past in Rockstar’s history. The earthquake. Each new delay is like a very heavy stone falling into a peaceful lake and generating shock waves that affect very distant launches. For example, games like ‘The Elder Scrolls VI’, ‘Fable’, the next ‘Assassin’s Creed’ or the new ‘Mass Effect’ still do not have a release date, all waiting for Rockstar to make a move, and now they find themselves with a dilemma: the first half of the year was better for them, which until today was a forbidden zone. Now what: bring the launch forward a few months or go to 2027? (Remember that we are not talking here about calendar whims, but rather possible losses of millions of dollars). This is the total absorption power of the Rockstar game market. Untouchable, but not invulnerable. This new delay leaves Rockstar in a peculiar position: no one doubts that ‘GTA VI’ is going to be a successbut date cancellation after date cancellation, the image of the game and the company itself are eroding. If we add to that that we are experiencing turbulent times in the industry, where the exorbitant budgets and the pace of hardware releases are absolutely broken, we can come to a conclusion: Rockstar and its ‘GTA’ are untouchable, but to what extent can they allow themselves to continue going indefinitely free of the industry and the public? In Xataka | The ghost of video games at 100 euros is closer than ever. And the owners of ‘GTA VI’ know it

Ukraine has updated the nation’s bloodiest game. Eliminating Russians is now the closest thing to “ordering an Uber”

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In the month of May, a unprecedented merger between military technology and video game logic. Ukraine had launched a reward system which awarded its soldiers points for killing Russian troops or destroying their vehicles, as long as these acts were verified by drone video recordings. That system, a kind from “Amazon military”has been updated with drones as protagonists. A real shooter. The now called “Army of Drones Bonus System” that has emerged in Ukraine presents itself on the surface as a incentive platform which includes the aesthetics and mechanics of video games (scores, ‘leaderboards’, online stores and rewards) but at its core is an operational transformation: an institutionalized scheme that quantifies casualties, observation successes and logistical achievements to translate them into real resources (drones, autonomous vehicles, electronic warfare systems) through the internal store call Brave1. Born a little over a year ago and accelerated in recent months until passing from 95 to 400 units participants, the system already exhibits strong effects on combat (according to official figures, 18,000 Russian casualties attributable to actions linked to the system in a single month) and has expanded its radius of action beyond the air attack to reconnaissance, artillery and logistics missions, incorporating into military practice notions of competition, internal market and performance metrics that were previously foreign to the art of war. Mechanics and logic. The program architecture works with clear and convertible rules– Each credited action (from eliminating an enemy combatant to capturing a prisoner to destroying a drone operator) awards points that can be exchanged for materiel in Brave1which creates a feedback loop where operational success is transformed into material capacity to continue fighting. The update of the score table (for example, doubling points for killing infantry or setting 120 points for capturing a prisoner) reveals the system’s ability to reorient incentives based on strategic priorities and political needs, and at the same time evidences a commodification of efficiency: life and death pass through a technical-economic threshold that converts lethal decisions into a cost-benefit function. This internal economy alters the microdecision of the combatant and resituates logistics and acquisition within the tactical space itself, with the Brave1 store acting as a war market that prioritizes allocation by competitive merit. Screenshot of the rewards system Automation and AI. The system is not limited to accounting, integrate tools technologies that change the very nature of target selection and engagement. Drones partially controlled by algorithms that suggest targets and correct the terminal phase of the trajectory represent a step towards lethal automation, while practices such as “Uber targeting” They demonstrate how consumerist and geospatial interfaces have been converted for war uses. Thus, marking a point on a map and triggering a remote impact is the operational translation of the everyday gesture. to request a transport. The video proof requirement To obtain points, it also generates a vast operational database that feeds institutional learning: what objectives were achieved, with what platform, from what distance and how the enemy defense behaved. That visual and metric file facilitates dissemination of techniques between units and accelerates innovation from below, with real effects on tactics and doctrine. Psychological effects. The Guardian said that, beyond the material and the technical, the system produces a kind of emotional breakdown: Senior officials recognize that the process of assigning a numerical value to human life has ended up turning violence into technical, “practical” and “emotionless” work. At the same time, gamification produces camaraderie effects and competition that, according to the commanders, are healthy and encourages discipline and learning between peers. However, this same dynamic can generate operational biases (prioritizing high-scoring objectives over tactically relevant objectives, or the temptation of operations with low effectiveness but high cumulative performance) that distort strategic coherence. Implications and extension. The Ukrainian experience shows that incentive principles can be transferred to other areas: artillery that receives points for valid hits, reconnaissance that earns rewards for identifying targets, and logistics that scores the use of autonomous vehicles instead of human convoys. This extension transforms the war ecosystem into a set of internal markets where tactical-technological innovation is quickly monetized and scaled, forcing planners a double urgency: exploit the immediate advantages of the system without losing strategic coherence and design ethical and operational countermeasures that prevent internal competition from fragmenting the priorities of the military effort. And ethics? It’s the big question. Ethically, the commodification of violence raises profound questions about responsibility, proportionality and war crimes: Who responds when a score induces an action that violates humanitarian law? The appropriation of AI for target selection also introduces the question of attribution of responsibility between human operators, algorithms and the chain of command. Strategically, converting equipment gain into the primary source of replenishment aims to create dependency loops that, in logistical wear and tear scenarios, discourage long-term wear and tear operations that are necessary in the short term for larger objectives. Score the violence. The “Army of Drones Bonus System” represents a mutation relevant to the way motivation, acquisition and innovation are organized in contemporary warfare: it incorporates market logicpoint economies and automation technologies that increase lethality and efficiency, while eroding moral frameworks and opening new vectors of risk. Its contribution is undeniable in terms of capacity and adaptation, but its expansion urgently claim a framework that does not yet exist at national or international level. In the background, a long doubt in this species Amazon military: that what is celebrated today as tactical innovation can tomorrow become a structural source of insecurity and lack of moral control on the battlefield. Image | Ministry of Defense Ukraine, Ministry of Defense of Ukraine In Xataka | An imperceptible hum is wreaking havoc in Ukraine. When it arrives there is no turning back: the Russians are already everywhere In Xataka | The Ukrainian army has been asked what it urgently needs. The answer was clear: no missiles or drones, just cars

There is a new chapter in the Nexperia soap opera, one in which China wins the game

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There are new developments in the chip war between the Netherlands and China, which has the company Nexperia at the center. After a tense escalation and the blockade that threatened to paralyze factoriesthe situation has improved after the meeting between Trump and Xi Jinpingbut there is something else. Almost at the same time, Nexperia China made a decision that changes everything: they will take care of the manufacturing of all the chips without depending on Holland, which would mean the definitive divorce from what was their headquarters. A divided company. Since last October 13 The Dutch government decided to take control of the companyNexperia split in two and was caught between two pieces of legislation. On the one hand, the headquarters in Holland controlled by the Dutch government and on the other its subsidiary in China, which The Chinese government banned the export of components. What followed was an increasingly tense exchange: the Chinese subsidiary broke ranks with the parent company and began to act independently and then from Holland They stopped supplying wafers for their chips as “a direct consequence of the recent failure by local management to comply with contractually agreed payment terms.” The automobile sector was shaking in the face of supply cuts and warned that factories could be paralyzed. Nexperia China. In a statement published by Beijing Dailydescribe the accusation as completely false and affirm that, not only have they not breached the contract, but that the Dutch parent company owes them 1,000 million yuan (about 122 million euros). They continue: “The unilateral suspension of supply by Nexperia completely ignores the interests of customers, seriously violates contractual agreements and the principles of business cooperation, seriously damages customer trust and constitutes an extremely irresponsible act.” Full China. Nexperia China will continue to operate independently and they assure that they have enough stock to supply their international customers “until the end of the year and beyond.” Furthermore, before the controversy Nexperia was already responsible for 70% of production; What Europe supplied them was mainly the wafers or wafers. Nexperia China says in its statement that they are “accelerating verification of new wafer capacity,” the key component to its full independence. The meeting. In it statement issued by the White House Following the meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping, it is said that “China will take appropriate measures to ensure the resumption of trade from Nexperia’s facilities in China, allowing production of critical legacy chips to reach the rest of the world.” That is to say, the blockade is coming to an end, the curious thing is that at no time does it mention anything about Holland or Europe. Nexperia Netherlands. The Dutch headquarters welcomed the agreement between the presidents of both nations, but did not comment on the Chinese subsidiary’s intention to accelerate its industrial independence. If Nexperia China finally completes its total spin-off, the European subsidiary could end up being a kind of ghost company empty. Images | Nexperia In Xataka | In its race to make advanced chips, China has tried to copy ASML. It’s going wrong

It seemed like a game of imitating movements. It was actually diagnosing autism better than many clinical tests

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When we think about video games, the fact of being a form of entertainment for young people (or not so young) or even that have an educational purpose. But they wanted to go one step further by betting on video games as a diagnostic tool for the little ones in the house and detect diseases early as important as the autism or the ADHD. The importance. Classically, both ADHD and autism are pathologies that they overlap from childhood, making early diagnosis difficult, which is the cornerstone in modern medicine to be able to tackle problems quickly. And this is what has been achieved with a video game that promises to differentiate a patient with ADHD from another with autism in less than an hour, just with the ability to copy the movements made by a silhouette on the screen. As we say, early diagnosis, especially of ASD, is really important to apply treatment that improves the quality of the child’s life and also begins effective interventions as soon as possible. Because although at the moment there are no treatments that are curative, it is possible to try to control some of the symptoms that are generated. Currently there are not many reliable and specific biomarkers to make this diagnosis, and this is a problem because autism spectrum disorder coexists with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in 50-70% of cases. This overlap often results in a “confusing clinical picture” that leads to erroneous or delayed diagnoses that are ultimately a serious problem. Hard to detect. But diagnosing ASD is not easy either, because it is based in many cases on traditional evaluations of motor imitation, because the problem lies in mirror neurons of our brain. In this way, it is classic that if a baby He doesn’t respond by smiling when we make him smile. the case can be raised alarm. But this is a slow thing that requires highly trained observers and has limited reliability, precision, and scalability. The video games. And this is where the video game in question comes in to be able to give us the tools that we lacked on a daily basis to do the job. diagnosis of ASD. Something that a research team has achieved by developing the Computerized Assessment of Motor Imitation, or CAMI. A system that is a short task, lasting one minute, which has been designed as a very attractive video game so that you want to play. The system in this case uses different computer vision methods to evaluate the performance of the imitation without the need to place any type of sensor on the children and almost without human intervention to interpret the results that are generated. Imitation as key. The objective of the study was clear: To examine whether CAMI could identify imitation problems specific to autism compared to children without any type of illness or children with ADHD. In the event that a child could not imitate the movements that appear on the screen, we could be talking about a major problem that is causing all of this. But the obligatory question in this case is… Why do we look at the imitation of movements? The answer is that imitation performance is considered a promising biomarker that is quite specific for diagnosing autism. Imitation in this case is essential for social learning and interpersonal relationships, and its deficit has been associated with children who have ASD compared to healthy children. The challenge was to demonstrate that this deficit is specific to autism and not to other conditions with atypical motor profiles, such as ADHD. That is, if a child could not follow the movement that appeared on the screen it was due to a problem related to the autism spectrum and not because there was a problem in attention. The experiment. The cross-sectional study recruited 183 children between 7 and 13 years old. Participants were divided into four groups: ADHD (without ASD), ASD with co-occurring ADHD, ASD without ADHD (ASD only), and neurotypical children. The test consisted of two trials of one minute each, in which children were asked to stand up and copy the “dance” movements that an avatar made on the screen. The movements in these cases were recorded by the Xbox Kinect cameras and CAMI automatically calculated an imitation score for each trial ranging from 0 to 1, with one being perfect imitation. These scores were averaged to obtain a composite score. The result. The results were significant. Children with ASD, regardless of whether they had ADHD or not, showed significantly worse CAMI performance than neurotypical children. In contrast, children with ADHD alone showed CAMI performance similar to that of neurotypical children. But screening could also be done within patients who pointed to having ASD, since worse performance on the CAMI was associated with greater autism traits (measured by ADOS-2), specifically in restricted and repetitive social affect and behavior. However, performance is not associated with ADHD traits or general motor ability, which gives us a clue to be able to refine the diagnosis much more. The authors conclude that this CAMI method, which is low-cost and scalable, specifically distinguishes ASD not only from neurotypical development, but also from ADHD. Although currently a research tool, the findings lay the foundation for establishing CAMI as a definitive test to see if a child has autism or not. Images | Alireza Attari Sam Pak In Xataka | We have discovered a genetic mechanism to explain up to 80% of autism cases. Thanks to some Spanish scientists

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