‘Stalker 2’ developer GSC Game World is reportedly leaving Ukraine

EXCLUSIVE: The Masked Singer creator Wonwoo Park is developing a Eurovision Song Contest-style format that will “bring people together regardless of nationality” and has addressed the Fox Masked Singer Rudy Giuliani controversy for the first time, stating it wouldn’t have happened in Korea.

Steam,  Valve has explained that it’s an issue with the company’s own bank. Earlier in the month, Ukrainian Steam developers started receiving emails from Valve that  read: “Due to the current environment, we are unable to send bank payments to Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.”One such developer based in Ukraine, Stas Shostak, has since received another email from Valve, which apologised and explained the situation. According to the company, Valve’s bank has started requiring “intermediary bank information” for payments to accounts in Ukraine and Russia, as the bank “will no longer be allowing payments to Belarus.”So Valve clarified, it really is a technical problem and it's gonna be okay till April payment.

Xbox has announced that it has paid indie developers billions in royalties from its ID@Xbox program.Independent Developers @ Xbox (ID@Xbox) is a scheme that Microsoft started in 2014 that allows indie studios to self-publish their games on the Xbox ecosystem of platforms.The announcement of shared royalties comes from Chris Charla, who was director of ID@Xbox until 2018 and is now a partner of content creation and programs at the company.“Since the program’s inception, independent developers have earned more than $2.5 billion [£1.89 billion] in royalties, and total revenue generated by ID@Xbox partners on Xbox almost doubled over the last three years. These are staggering numbers, and it speaks to the power of independent developers,” wrote Charla in a post on Xbox Wire.Charla adds that because of the scheme, indie developers have been able to give Microsoft direct feedback regarding its back-end publishing, which has allowed developers to more easily ship their games on both console and PC.“We’ve also paid developers and publishers across Xbox hundreds of millions of dollars in Game Pass license fees,” adds Charla, although no specific figure was given here.Despite apparently having over 3,000 indie games on Xbox, Charla notes that one area the team needs to improve on is discoverability and making it easier for players to find games they may end up really enjoying.Earlier in the month an ID@Xbox showcase was also live-streamed and showed off plenty of games coming to Game Pass in the near future.

Sting announced today that proceeds from his recently re-recorded 1985 song “Russians” will benefit Ukrainian humanitarian and medical aid.

Naman Ramachandran The BBC World Service has sought and will receive £4.1 million ($5.4 million) in additional funding to counter disinformation around the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The emergency funding would to help the BBC “continue bringing independent, impartial and accurate news to people in Ukraine and Russia in the face of increased propaganda from the Russian state,” the U.K.

Peta Murgatroyd got emotional while reflecting on Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterIn “The War of the Worlds,” Tom Cruise flees an alien invasion in a Plymouth minivan. The camera swoops around and around, capturing the drama inside the van as it swerves through traffic, and rising from a point below the bumper to look down on the chaos from high above.That shot was made possible by the Russian Arm, a gyro-stabilized crane mounted on the roof of a car. The technology was introduced in the late 1990s, and has become a mainstay of the “Fast and Furious” and “Mission: Impossible” franchises as well as Marvel and DC superhero films such as “Black Widow” and “Wonder Woman.” Whenever there’s a car chase or a cavalry charge or a stampede of giant robots, the director calls for the Russian Arm.

Marta Balaga Ukrainian producer Julia Sinkevych, named main jury president at French TV festival Series Mania, is still hoping to come to Lille this week despite the ongoing war.“Last night, there was bombing not far from Lviv, so you never know. [Producer] Dariusz Jabłoński and the Polish Film Academy are helping out Ukrainian filmmakers and they will pick me up when I am in Poland,” she tells Variety during a conversation interrupted by a siren.“Usually, it means you have to hide.

Strictly Come Dancing where she met her future partner Gorka Marquez. The couple are now parents to a gorgeous girl named Mia.

GSC Game World has renamed its upcoming game to Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl, and has also announced it will be cancelling physical pre-orders sold to fans in Russia.The change in title reflects how the area’s name is spelled in Ukrainian, and the new title is visible on Steam – however it’s yet to appear on the game’s Microsoft or Xbox storefront pages.GSC Game World, which is based in Kyiv, has not commented on the change. However, yesterday (March 14) the studio shared a post on Russian social media site VK that outlined its position on sales of Stalker 2 in Russia.The post confirmed that although existing digital pre-orders of Stalker 2 would be honoured, no further pre-orders from Russia would be accepted.Furthermore, all physical sales have been cancelled, even for those who have already paid.

Elon Musk is looking to throw down with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Tesla co-founder, 50, challenged Putin, 69, to a one-on-one fight amidst Russia’s tragic invasion of Ukraine. “I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat,” Elon wrote on Twitter March 14. “Stakes are Ukraine,” he added. Elon wrote Putin’s name in Russian and Ukraine in Ukrainian.

Maksim Chmerkovskiy, 42, recently seemed to try and relax while getting some fresh air on the balcony of his apartment in Malibu, CA, just days after he admitted that his Dancing With the Stars fame helped him to flee Ukraine after Russia’s invasion. The ballroom dance champion was photographed looking at his phone while wearing a white T-shirt and black shorts as he looked up at cameras for a moment during the outing. He also wore white wireless ear buds and appeared to be either listening to something on his phone or chatting with someone.

Former Miss Ukraine Anastasiia Lenna has joined the Ukrainian forces to fight Russian troops as Vladimir Putin's invasion continues.The stunning brunette has swapped evening gowns for a rifle as she warned Russian invaders that they will "will die on our land" if they continue their advance. Sharing images on her social media, Anastasiia, who represented Ukraine at the 2015 Miss Grand International beauty pageant, has vowed to defend Ukraine until their safe border is restored.This week, Anastasiia, who has 315,000 Instagram followers, posted another video contrasting Ukraine before the war compared to recent photos and videos.

Iron Gate has begun teasing the next Valheim update that will improve the Mistlands, starting with a new weapon.A new video from Iron Gate shows the bow being modelled and added into the game. The bow will be added in the Mistlands update, which will take the small uneventful area of Valheim’s world and expand it.

KISS frontman Gene Simmons has given his thoughts on whether bands should cancel any upcoming performances in Russia. See the clip below.In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last month, numerous artists have announced the cancellation of scheduled performances.