Category:
Investing
Category:
Investing
Category:
Investing
2026-02-12 01:01:30|
Engadget
Blizzard announced today that it is introducing the Warlock as a playable character to Diablo II: Resurrected. It brings the first new class in 25 years to this remaster of the original RPG. Its part of the Reign of the Warlock DLC, which is available today and will run you $25. It also includes some other updates to the base game, including new items and a new pinnacle boss encounter against the Colossal Ancients. For those players who dont already own the base game, you can also pick up the Infernal Edition of D2R for $40, which includes the new content.When D2R launched in 2021, it was an impressively faithful recreation of the game that so many Blizzard fans continued to adore over the years. Bringing in a whole new player class is a big win for those players who have stuck with the game in its contemporary era.If D2R isn't your jam, though, Warlock is also being added to both Diablo 4 in its upcoming Lord of Hatred expansion this April and to Diablo Immortal. So aside from Diablo 3 not getting much love, just about all fans of the franchise will have a chance to get into the demon-summoning groove. Blizzard's 30th anniversary showcase video has all the details about what the other Diablo titles have in store during this year.Blizzard has been keeping the news and updates rolling over the past few weeks in honor of the company's 35th anniversary. One of the more notable updates came for team hero shooter Overwatch, which lost the 2 in its name, but gained five more heroes in its big update yesterday.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/diablo-ii-resurrected-is-adding-warlock-as-a-brand-new-player-class-000130003.html?src=rss
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
Every day, countless McDonald's customers pick the pickles off their burgers. In the Nordics, the fast food brand found a way to give that throwaway moment a second life.With 'Pickle It Forward,' running from mid-January through early March 2026, every pickle removed via the app or kiosk is symbolically deposited into a digital 'pickle bank.' Pickle lovers can then dip into the communal stash and add up to four extra pickles to their burger, free of charge. The person who ditched their pickles will never know who benefited, and the person loading up on extras won't know who made it possible but a small, silly loop of generosity now connects them.The beauty of the mechanic is that it asks almost nothing of participants. They were going to remove those pickles anyway now that act of personal preference becomes a gift to a stranger. It's generosity stripped down to its most frictionless form, wrapped in humor rather than earnestness, and tapping into a picklemania on socials, which have been awash with pickle-flavored everything, from drinks to ice cream. The campaign, developed by NORD Copenhagen, latches onto that hook by involving duos a pickle lover paired with a pickle hater across TikTok and Instagram, with real-time data tracking on which cities skew lover or hater.TREND BITEThere's a broader pattern here worth noting. As consumers grow weary of performative brand activism, campaigns that facilitate micro-interactions between customers even small and frivolous ones can generate goodwill that grand gestures sometimes can't. Pickle It Forward works because it doesn't ask people to care about pickles; it asks them to do exactly what they were already doing, then reveals that it brought pleasure to someone else. For brands looking to foster a sense of community, the lesson isn't to manufacture shared causes from scratch. It's to look at the preferences and behaviors customers already express, and find the invisible thread that connects one person's "no thanks" to another person's delight.
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
2026-02-11 22:19:58|
Engadget
Less than a week after Valve admitted that the current shortage (and growing prices) of RAM were affecting its hardware plans, the Steam Deck is completely sold out. The Steam Deck has gone in and out of stock in the past, but as Kotaku notes, the timing does raise the question whether Valve's RAM issues could also be impacting its Linux handheld. The 256GB Steam Deck LCD, and both the 512GB and 1TB models of the Steam Deck OLED, are completely sold out on Steam. Valve announced that it was discontinuing the LCD versions of its handheld and selling through its remaining inventory in December 2025, so the fact that the 256GB Steam Deck model is currently sold out isn't surprising. That both OLED versions are also unavailable at the same time, though, is a bit more unusual.Engadget has contacted Valve for more information about the availability of the Steam Deck. We'll update this article if we hear back.When Valve announced the Steam Machine, Steam Controller and Steam Frame, the company notably left pricing and availability off the table, presumably because tariffs and access to RAM were leaving those details in flux. The company's announcement last week that the memory and storage shortage had pushed back its plans and would likely impact prices more or less confirmed that. At no point did Valve mention that the Steam Deck would be similarly affected, but maybe it should have.The rising cost of RAM has already forced other PC makers to adjust the pricing of their computers. Framework announced in January that it was raising the price of its Framework Desktop by as much as $460. Some analysts assume that the memory shortage driven by the AI industry could lead to higher prices and even an economic downturn in the wider PC industry. Ideally, the Steam Deck being out of stock is a temporary issue rather than a sign that Valve is doing something drastic. If things continue as they are, however, changes to the Steam Deck likely won't be off the table.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/the-great-ramaggedon-of-2026-might-have-just-claimed-the-steam-deck-211958306.html?src=rss
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
