Tag: passes
Subnautica 2 studio reassures fans that it’s not a live-service game: ‘No season passes. No battle passes. No subscription’
Montana legislature passes TikTok ban (Update: Ban is now law)
UPDATE: May. 17, 2023, 2:56 p.m. PDT On Wednesday, Governor Greg Gianforte signed this bill, which is slated to go into effect on January 1, 2024. Lawyers from organizations like the ACLU of Montana have already announced their opposition, so lawsuits attempting to stop the bill from ever being enforced are widely expected to proceed. This piece was originally published April 14, 2023 when the ban had been passed by the state legislature, but not yet signed.
The Montana House of Representatives just passed a ban on TikTok, meaning the app will become illegal if Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signs the bill, which had already passed in the Montana State Senate. Past actions by Gianforte, such as his memo prohibiting use of the app on state equipment, suggest that the bill will in fact become state law.
This is not yet another ban preventing government workers from using TikTok. The bill has at least some teeth, to say the least. It at least forbids (though it appears not to penalize) the use of TikTok by individuals statewide, prohibits app stores from selling TikTok in Montana, and lays out penalties for app sellers.
This is far and away the most far-reaching and complete ban that has been passed anywhere in the U.S. since President Trump’s unsuccessful ban back in 2020.
The bill would keep TikTok out of Montana mainly by fining app stores $10,000 per violation per day if the app is ever downloaded in Montana. The bill forbids “the operation of tiktok by the company or users,” but also notes that its penalties, “do not apply to users of tiktok.” So to be clear, the $10,000 fines only go to app stores, not TikTok users.
In either case, under this new law, it would have been legally impermissible for the person who captured the following footage of a mountain goat in Glacier National Park to download TikTok and post it for all to see:
In a statement provided to CNN, TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter claimed that those who have pushed this Montana bill “have no feasible plan for operationalizing this attempt to censor American voices,” and added that “the bill’s constitutionality will be decided by the courts.”
The ACLU of Montana already signaled its opposition to the bill in the day’s before its passage, so TikTok may well be right that this will be decided in the courts.
As for TikTok’s claim that Montana doesn’t have a “feasible plan” for putting the bill into effect? That’s plausible as well, given that it’s not clear exactly how the law enforcement authorities of this sparsely populated state with just over 1 million inhabitants will go about finding perpetrators of this entirely new state cybercrime.
Diablo 4 lays out future plans for seasons and battle passes
The hack-and-slashing world of Diablo 4 is already set to be massive, but next month’s launch is only the beginning. Blizzard have detailed the action RPG’s post-launch plans which include quarterly seasons, rotating cosmetics via an in-game shop, and of course, a battle pass – all of which was revealed during last night’s developer livestream and a blog post.
Destiny 2 season passes are getting more expensive, but Bungie hasn’t said why
Bungie has announced that it is raising the cost of Destiny 2’s season passes by 20%, though in real world money it will technically cost more.
Earlier this week Bungie put out a blog post discussing the usual kind of updates you’d expect for the game. Most notably, though, it also announced that starting with Destiny 2 Season 21, passes will now cost an extra 200 Silver, one of the game’s currencies. Previously season passes would cost just 1000 Silver, but it’s now being raised to 1200, and season passes with the additional 10 rank bundle going up from 2000 to 2200. The biggest problem there is that the only way to buy Silver is by using real world money.
Bundles of 1100 Silver cost £8.49/$10, which is obviously 100 Silver short of what you need to buy a Season pass. You can get bundles of 500 for £4.49/$5, but that now means you’ll have to spend that extra money to get the season pass at all, if you don’t have any Silver left in your account. It’s an odd choice to make, and Bungie didn’t explain why it is doing so in the blog post.
Destiny 2 Season Passes Will Cost More Starting With Season 21
Beginning with Destiny 2’s forthcoming season, Season of the Deep, the game’s standalone season pass will receive a slight price increase. The price is raising from 1,000 Silver ($10) to 1,200 Silver ($12). The season pass bundle, which grants players ten additional ranks upon purchase, is also getting an price adjustment, increasing from 2,000 Silver ($20) to 2,200 Silver ($22).
This price change will not affect players who purchase Lightfall, which provides access to the current season at the time of sale. Additionally, it will not change the price of the Lightfall + Annual Pass edition, which provides season passes for Seasons 20-23. Bungie also stated that it is considering “new approaches” to post-launch content for the year of The Final Shape.
The price change was just one piece of a recent flurry of announcements concerning Destiny 2’s future. We got the first look at Season 21: the Season of the Deep. Bungie will not raise power caps, as previous seasons have, and will have less pinnacle drops in kind. However, some weekly challenges will now reward Powerful Exotic engrams. Season of the Deep will also offer new strand aspects and numerous upgrades for Supers. Also, older raid exotics will be easier to obtain. The new season, and these price changes, launch on May 23.
New York State Passes Historic Ban on Gas Appliances (Stoves Included)
New York has become the first state in the country to ban gas hook-ups in new buildings. A section of the state’s recently passed, long-delayed 2024 budget includes a policy known as the All Electric Buildings Act. Under the law, signed by Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday, New York is headed for a climate-friendlier…
Expo+ passes to TechCrunch Disrupt are on sale now
Terrific news for anyone who lacks either the time or the budget to go whole-hog at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 on September 19–21 in San Francisco. We’ve just released a fresh batch of Expo+ passes into the wild, so to speak. It’s a great option for anyone interested in seeing the next generation of early-stage startups […]
Expo+ passes to TechCrunch Disrupt are on sale now by Lauren Simonds originally published on TechCrunch
Man Utd star’s sister passes tough FIFA exam to become licensed football agent
Washington Passes Law Requiring Consent Before Companies Collect Health Data
Under Washington’s new law, which comes into effect in March 2024, medical apps and sites must ask a user for permission to collect their health data in a nondeceptive manner that “openly communicates a consumer’s freely given, informed, opt-in, voluntary, specific, and unambiguous written consent.” The site and apps must also disclose what kind of data they plan to collect and if they plan to sell it. Additionally, the bill will block medical providers from using geofencing to collect location information about the patients that visit the facility.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.