Video game publisher Electronic Arts has canceled a game that was in development at its Montreal office for nearly six years, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. From a report: The game, code named Gaia, was first hinted at in 2015, but was never officially announced or given a title. Since then, EA executives have released a drip feed of information, sharing tidbits every few years on what it described as a brand new franchise. Last summer in a video showcasing future games, EA provided a few seconds of footage from Gaia, describing it as "a highly ambitious, innovative new game that puts the power and creativity in your hands." The cancellation is part of a recent resource shift by the company as it evaluates projects and decides which ones will move forward. Earlier this month, the publisher reviewed in-progress games including Gaia and a new iteration of the poorly received online game Anthem, which was also canceled. Gaia's development was turbulent and the game went through at least one major reboot, which may have been a factor behind its demise, according to the people, who requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to talk to the press.

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theodp writes: Amazon on Wednesday announced it has lined up the support of Governors and State School Superintendents from five 'key states' for a pilot that aims to reimagine the Java-based Advanced Placement Computer Science A (AP CS A) course taken by high school students for college credit. By doing so, Amazon indicated it hopes to address "the diversity gaps in today's technology workforce." From the press release: "Amazon's signature computer science education program, Amazon Future Engineer, is trying to help close those gaps by donating $15 million to Code.org over three years. The money will support the creation of the new equity-minded curriculum and other initiatives designed to reach more students from underrepresented groups. The initiatives aim to increase student awareness of academic and career pathways in computer science as well as equip them to be successful in college-level computer science and beyond. Working together, we have our eyes set on an ambitious goal of doubling the participation of students from underrepresented groups in AP CSA within five years of the course's launch." After CEO Jeff Bezos came under fire [PDF] last summer for the company's continued resistance to making its EEO-1 diversity regulatory filing public, Amazon finally agreed to publicly disclose its race, gender and ethnicity workforce data sometime in 2021.

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Sony is winding down original game development at its oldest first-party developer, Japan Studio, game news outlet VGC reported, citing sources. From the report: The iconic developer behind Ape Escape, Gravity Rush and Knack has seen the vast majority of its development staff let go, the sources said, after their annual contracts were not renewed ahead of the company's next business year, which begins April 1. Localisation and business staff will remain in place and ASOBI Team -- the group responsible for the Astro Bot games -- will continue as a standalone studio within Sony Japan, it's claimed. Some Japan Studio staff will join ASOBI, we were told, while others have followed Silent Hill and Gravity Rush director Keiichiro Toyama -- who left Japan Studio last year -- to his new studio Bokeh. It's not entirely clear if the restructure has affected the studio's External Development Department, which collaborated on games such as last year's Demon's Souls, but one person VGC spoke to suggested it would continue.

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A video demo shows how un-disruptive it would be for Twitter to go beyond 280 chars.

My wish list for Twitter itself follows, not any of the things they announced today, all of which could be done just as well by others, and have been.

To the core product, this is what I want.

• Tweets with more than 280 chars.
• Tweets with titles.
• Simple styling, bold/italic.
• Links.
• Enclosures (for podcasting).

A "more" button after 280, so it's functionally equivalent to today's limits.

Would be enabling, explosive, powerful, society-transforming, useful, something only Twitter can do. Why not.

Let my tweets breathe!

Twitter announced a pair of big upcoming features today: the ability for users to charge their followers for access to additional content, and the ability to create and join groups based around specific interests. From a report: They're two of the more substantial changes to Twitter in a while, but they also fit snugly into models that have been popular and successful on other social platforms. The payment feature, called Super Follows, will allow Twitter users to charge followers and give them access to extra content. That could be bonus tweets, access to a community group, subscription to a newsletter, or a badge indicating your support. In a mockup screenshot, Twitter showed an example where a user charges $4.99 per month to receive a series of perks. Twitter sees it as a way to let creators and publishers get paid directly by their fans. [...] Twitter also announced a new feature called Communities, which appear to be its take on something like Facebook Groups. People can create and join groups around specific interests -- like cats or plants, Twitter suggests -- allowing them to see more tweets focused on those topics. Groups have been a huge success for Facebook (and a huge moderation problem, too), and they could be a particularly helpful tool on Twitter, since the service's open-ended nature can make it difficult for new users to get started on the platform.

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Koreantoast writes: With the number of carjackings more than doubling in the city of Chicago during 2020, one lawmaker knows who to blame: the video game "Grand Theft Auto." According to Chicago ABC 7, Democratic State Representative Marcus Williams believes the video game is causing the rise in carjackings, stating that "Grand Theft Auto' and other violent video games are getting in the minds of our young people and perpetuating the normalcy of carjacking. Carjacking is not normal and carjacking must stop." He plans on introducing a bill to ban sales of the game in the state of Illinois. Some are skeptical of Rep. Williams claims however. Columnist Joe Jurado of the Root points out that the franchise is hardly new and widely distributed, with the latest iteration, GTA V, released eight years ago and having sold 130 million copies. He adds that attempting to ban the game would be incredibly difficult writing, "Let me entertain this stupid-a** notion for a second. Say they're successful and get the game off store shelves in Illinois. What are you going to do about digital sales? You're telling me that the state of Illinois is willing to expend the time, money, and technical know-how to block the game off of PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Epic Games, and the Rockstar storefront? I've worked for the state government, and I know damn well those Windows XP-using a**es ain't built for this life."

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India is establishing new rules to govern internet firms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter, [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source] a fresh challenge for the American giants in a huge market that is key to their global expansion. From a report: The new guidelines, unveiled Thursday, say that in order to counter the rise of problematic content online like false news and violent material, intermediaries must establish "grievance redressal mechanisms" to resolve user complaints about postings and share with the government the names and contact details for "grievance officers" at the firms. These officers must acknowledge complaints within a day and resolve them within 15. Social media firms must take down material involving explicit sexual content within 24 hours of being flagged. Firms must also appoint officers and contact people -- who live in India -- to coordinate with law enforcement agencies and address complaints. Some firms must also help identify the "first originator" of some messages, the rules say. "We appreciate the proliferation of social media in India," Ravi Shankar Prasad, India's minister of electronics and information technology, said Thursday. "We want them to be more responsible and more accountable," he said. The rules are New Delhi's latest move to assert control over global tech firms that have experienced breakneck growth in a country of more than 1.3 billion. The regulations also come during monthslong farmers' protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, which have sparked fierce debate on social media. They have emerged as Mr. Modi's stiffest political challenge since he assumed power in 2014. The rules say the government can implement a code of ethics for digital media and so-called over-the-top platforms, a term applied to video streaming services like Netflix.

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Following up on the question about English Muffins. The consensus is they are not muffins. This, believe it or not, is a practical question. I was at the grocery store, loading up the conveyer belt for checking out. I dropped a pack of English Muffins on the belt, and accidentally dropped the other on the floor. I said "there are two packs of muffins, please run that through twice." When I finished she said she didn't see any muffins. I laughed, and pointed to the English muffins. We had a nice discussion about whether or not they really are muffins. I thought I should ask my Twitter followers and Scripting News readers. We are mostly in agreement.

A computer program that can solve 1980s exploration games could help improve robot intelligence.

If you work at a tech company and hear someone say that you're going for world domination, tell them I said it's okay but you should plan for co-existence and working with your competitors for the benefit of users. Just in case you don't achieve world domination. Always good to have a Plan B.

Twitter has a newsletter service. I signed up to see how it works. You can subscribe, but there probably will only be this one issue. Functionally it's very similar to the others. You have to use their editor. I already have an editor that's customized for the way I work, so there's no way I'm using their editor. I already have email distribution of my own. It's ridiculous. They must not understand how writers work. We find the tool that's right for us and it becomes part of our bodies. Too much world domination as a strategy in tech, as always. That's how we get situations like this.

Australia's law forcing Google and Facebook to pay for news is ready to take effect, though the laws' architect said it will take time for the digital giants to strike media deals. From a report: The Parliament on Thursday passed the final amendments to the so-called News Media Bargaining Code agreed between Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday. In return for the changes, Facebook agreed to lift a ban on Australians accessing and sharing news. Rod Sims, the competition regulator who drafted the code, said he was happy that the amended legislation would address the market imbalance between Australian news publishers and the two gateways to the internet. "All signs are good," Sims said. "The purpose of the code is to address the market power that clearly Google and Facebook have. Google and Facebook need media, but they don't need any particular media company, and that meant media companies couldn't do commercial deals," the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair added. The rest of the law had passed in Parliament earlier, so it can now be implemented. Google has already struck deals with major Australian news businesses in recent weeks including News Corp. and Seven West Media.

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If you don't believe such a thing exists, listen to this discussion between David Frum and Preet Bharara, all the way through. Obviously Frum, a Republican, passionately believes in the rule of law, and he is staying a Republican, he says so clearly. I read Frum's latest book, I read all his Atlantic columns. I cringe when he talks about Republican campaigns he worked on, and his experience in the Bush II administration. How could someone so honest be so corrupt? Somehow it works for him. Who am I to question. I have a philosophy. I don't ask how you got to the party. I don't care if you took the subway, or cam in a limo or an Uber, or you walked, rode a bike, or hijacked a bus. You're at the party, that's all that matters. Let's work together to get back to a place where we can respectfully disagree, and retain our honor. I'm pretty sure Frum would agree.

If you were a Republican who believes in the rule of law and the Constitution, what would you do?