Skull & Bones Leak Reveals More Details For Ubisoft’s Pirate Game – Report

New details on Skull & Bones, Ubisoft’s long-in-development seafaring game, have apparently emerged. According to leaker Tom Henderson–who has had a solid record with Call of Duty and Battlefield leaks over the years–the game reportedly features five different tiers of ships which are divided into the cargo, combat, and exploration categories depending on the journey that you’ll take.

New ships are unlocked via blueprints and can be customized, such as enhancing a vessel’s predetermined arsenal of cannons with mortars, ballistas, and other weapons.

Now Playing: Skull and Bones Pirate Hunting Gameplay – E3 2018

Each ship also has its own strengths and weaknesses, with Henderson saying that smaller boats can outrun bigger ships if a chase occurs. Like most of Ubisoft’s games, Skull & Bones is claimed to be an open-world title set in the waters of the Indian Ocean and a fictional pirate haven based on Madagascar.

You’ll start the game off as a complete nobody, eventually working your way up the pirate ladder by earning cash from jobs, raiding other ships, attacking settlements, and hauling cargo across the ocean according to the leak. It’s worth noting that Henderson’s thread of tweets contains several leaked images, some of which have already been removed due to copyright claims.

The more money you make as a pirate, the more powerful you become. As for what’s changed since the game was shown off in 2018, Henderson added that ship perspective has been slightly tweaked while disembarking on land has players exploring their hideout and safe havens on foot. Just don’t expect any Assassin’s Creed gameplay here, as there’ll be no combat or parkour in these sections of the game that are dedicated to conversation with NPCs.

Skull & Bones was first revealed at E3 2017, under the development of Ubisoft Singapore. Since then, the game has been delayed numerous time, with Ubisoft explaining in September 2020 that the studio was working on a “new vision” for the game, following a report that said the title was getting rebooted. The latest delay was announced in May this year during an earnings report, with Ubisoft expecting Skull & Bones to launch during the fiscal year 2022-2023, which runs April 1, 2022-March 31, 2023.

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Steam’s Latest Surprise Hit is a Sim Where You Run a Gas Station

Aside from showcasing the latest triple-A heavyweights to grace the world of video games, the Steam store is also no stranger to the occasional out-of-the-blue indie success story. The store’s latest surprise hit comes in the form of Gas Station Simulator, a game that does exactly what the title suggests: run a gas station.

Currently ranked third on Steam’s Top Sellers list, DRAGO Entertainment’s Gas Station Simulator is topped only by new releases Deathloop and Timberborn.

In Gas Station Simulator, players find themselves at the forefront of a brand new business opportunity. After purchasing their very own abandoned gas station – The Dust Bowl – budding entrepreneurs are then tasked with restoring it to its former glory. Throughout the game, players will need to expand upon their station’s services as they attempt to keep up with the pace of its customers’ demands.

Gas Station Simulator incorporates all the best elements from your multiple memorable times at gas stations. From refuelling cars at the pump to tending to customers at the checkout, and even changing tires in the workshop, the game looks to draw upon the best tasks of station life.

In an attempt to keep players grounded, the game does more than just show off the wild side of running your own gas station. Taking out the trash and sweeping the station’s shop floor are a couple of the day-to-day jobs players will need to master in order to maintain high standards at their business. That being said, if work-life balance is a concern for prospective new company owners, the game also has a basketball hoop that you can visit and attempt to earn high scores on.

According to SteamDB, Gas Station Simulator has reached a peak of 5619 concurrent players since its launch yesterday (September 15). With over 4,000 players currently playing Gas Station Simulator at the time of writing, that’s a lot of floors swept, tanks refuelled and tires changed. Players looking to try their hand in the car refuelling business can pick up a copy of Gas Station Simulator on its Steam store page where the game is currently listed with 10% off until September 22. If you prefer your simulators a little more exciting, then check out Flight Simulator’s upcoming Top Gun DLC.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Battlefield 2042 Open Beta Rumored For October

Battlefield 2042 has been officially delayed to November 19, and this impacts a number of other particulars about the game, including its Early Access release date and the open beta. Community manager Freeman cleared up some of the specifics on Twitter. In addition to that, rumors emerged that the open beta will begin in early October.

The Early Access period has shifted to November 12. As announced previously, the Gold and Ultimate editions of the game release one week early. Previously, this would have been October 15, but now it’s November 12 to match up with the delay.

As for the open beta, the dates have shifted, too. DICE never said when the open beta was previously slated to launch, but it was rumored for late-September. Now, it’s seemingly been delayed to coincide with the game’s overall delay. Don’t expect to learn the new dates this week, however, but the reveal will happen this month.

According to insider Tom Henderson, the Battlefield 2042 beta will take place starting October 6 for people who preorder and October 8 for everyone else.

It’s been a long road to release for Battlefield 2042 already, as DICE took an extra year to develop the game to help give developers more time to make the most out of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The game supports 128 players on those platforms, compared to 64 on PS4 and Xbox One.

Plenty of games planned for 2021 have shifted to 2022, due to the impact of the pandemic and other factors. For more, check out GameSpot’s roundup of all the games delayed so far.

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Composer Marty O’Donnell Must Pay Bungie Over Use Of Destiny Music

Destiny’s original composer Marty O’Donnell has been found in contempt of court for his usage of the game’s assets, that he had uploaded to his YouTube channel and other platforms. Bungie served O’Donnell with papers in April 2014 this year, as he was ordered to return all material related to Destiny and Music of the Spheres–the foundation that the game’s soundtrack was built on–as part of a 2015 injunction after he was fired from the company in April 2014.

O’Donnell originally won a settlement from Bungie and president Harold Ryan after filing a lawsuit over his dismissal, which he claimed then was done “without cause.”

Now Playing: Behind the Games: Meet the Composers – Marty O’Donnell

In 2019, O’Donnell began uploading that music and other materials to YouTube, as well as tracks and an album titled “Sketches for MotS” to Bandcamp that users could purchase from him according to Eurogamer.

“Mr. O’Donnell’s very possession of such materials proves he did not comply with the order to return ‘all material’ to Bungie,” Bungie’s motion read. Bungie claimed that these actions added up to a contempt of court and a violation of the 2015 injunction, which the court agreed on.

“Mr. O’Donnell intentionally disobeyed, and is hereby held in contempt of, the September 17, 2015 order confirming and enforcing final arbitration award [the “Order”] entered in this Matter,” judge Regina Cahan of the Superior Court of Washington King explained in their ruling.

What does this mean for O’Donnell? Besides now owing Bungie all the money that he made from Bandcamp sales, he has been ordered to pay the studio’s attorney fees, the costs associated with the third-party examination of his electronic devices, and “reasonable costs” associated with the contempt proceeding. Bungie is asking for $100,000 for this last point, a fee that O’Donnell’s representatives are arguing against and calls unreasonable.

In addition to that, O’Donnell was also forced to remove all the relevant material from the internet, and inform third-party sites hosting that content to also delete it. Finally, he has to “post a message, the wording of which the parties agree to, on his Twitter, YouTube, Bandcamp, and Soundcloud sites/channels stating that he did not have legal authority to possessor provide material related to Music of the Spheres or Destiny and asking anyone who previously downloaded any such assets to delete them and refrain from sharing and will destroy any copies of them.”

Signs that O’Donnell had entered into a new dispute with Bungie first surfaced when he removed Destiny-related videos from his YouTube channel and deleted his Twitter account. O’Donnell restored his Twitter account in June, and cryptically tweeted that he was considering retiring from the video game industry and in a now-deleted reply as to why his YouTube channel had been shut down, O’Donnell wrote: “Ask [Bungie CEO] Pete Parsons.”

The Halo composer later asked fans to consider buying the soundtrack to the 2019 PlayStation VR game Golem that he worked on at his new studio, Highwire Games, saying that the money raised would help him pay his “huge” legal bills. Highwire Games is currently working on the Iraq war game Six Days in Fallujah, which has generated plenty of controversy since it was announced.

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The 10 Best Dragon Ball Z Characters

Even decades after its original run, Dragon Ball Z remains one of the most popular anime series ever released. Who doesn’t love watching colorful, muscular heroes battling it out with the fate of the entire world at stake?

Even as the franchise continues to grow thanks to Dragon Ball Super and the upcoming sequel movie Dragon Ball Super Hero, we feel now is a great time to celebrate DBZ and its most iconic heroes and villains. Let’s count down the 10 best characters from the show’s long run, from Frieza to Vegeta to Goku.

Note: This list only covers Dragon Ball Z, not the original Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT or Dragon Ball Super!

10. Bulma

Bulma isn’t quite as central to the Dragon Ball Z saga as she is the original Dragon Ball, but she’s still a character worth highlighting. The rare science dork amid a sea of musclebound fighters, Bulma is always happy to save the day with a handy gadget or three. Where would our heroes be without her trusty array of Capsule Corp. accessories? Bulma’s unlikely romance with Vegeta also proves to be one of the series’ more compelling subplots. She’s come a long way since her very first team-up with Goku.

9. Android 18

While the line between good and evil is usually pretty well defined in the DBZ-verse, there are exceptions. Android 18 is certainly one such case. One of the world-conquering androids Future Trunks is sent to warn our heroes about, 18 quickly proves herself to be more than just a killing machine. Her independent streak and sarcastic sense of humor reveal a deep-seated humanity Dr. Gero couldn’t quite snuff out. By the end of the series, 18 has given up her original programming in favor of starting a family with Krillin. It’s a shame the series never shows us more of how that relationship developed, but 18 nonetheless ranks among the series’ more intriguing and nuanced characters.

8. Cell

The ultimate creation of Dr. Gero, Cell is a creature who has near limitless growth potential. What is most interesting about him, though, is that he is willing to wait for characters to reach their full potential. He could simply kill everyone with his immense power, but often he is seen stalling and waiting, as he wants to battle the heroes of Earth when they are at their true potential.

If not quite the greatest villain in DBZ history, Cell is certainly responsible for some of the series’ best moments. Who can forget the tragic death of Android 16, spurring Gohan to unleash his true power? And don’t forget the dramatic final showdown, when the late Goku returns to help his son finally destroy this all-powerful threat to humanity.

7. Krillin

You really can’t make a list about Dragon Ball Z without including Krillin, Goku’s longtime friend and training partner. Although his power is quickly outpaced by Goku during the events of Dragon Ball Z, Krillin is always around and ready to fight, even if it often does mean he gets beat up. In fact, Krillin’s poor fighting record has become a bit of a running joke at this point. The most memorable of his many deaths occurs at the hands of Frieza, something Krillin himself has never forgotten. However, it was not entirely in vain, as his death served to spark the initial Super Saiyan transformation in Goku. He may never be the strongest, or the most… alive, but Krillin is always there for his friends, and that’s what makes him number seven on our list.

6. Trunks

Trunks is unique among the DBZ fighters in that he appears in two completely different forms over the course of the series. We first meet Trunks early in the Cell Saga, as a battle-hardened teen warrior from the future with a dire message. Trunks makes quite the first impression, handily dispatching both Mecha-Frieza and King Cold with a few lightning-quick sword slashes, and he continues to gain new layers over the course of that storyline and the tie-in movie, The History of Trunks.

Later, fans meet the younger version of Trunks, a boy no longer burdened by growing up in a hellish world of evil androids. Along with his BFF Goten, Trunks is the source of endless comedic relief during the Buu Saga. Whichever version you prefer, he’s a worthy addition to the series’ cast.

5. Piccolo

Piccolo did quite the 180 over the course of DBZ. It’s easy to forget he was the main villain in the final story arc in the original Dragon Ball. Piccolo slowly morphs from Goku’s mortal enemy to reluctant ally to outright friend over the course of the series. Whatever differences the two warriors might once have had, Piccolo is redeemed after taking a strong interest in young Gohan, helping nurture his pupil’s immense hidden power. Piccolo is also notable for being the one non-Saiyan character who can keep up with the likes of Goku and Vegeta, thanks mainly to his habit of fusing with fellow Namekians like Nail and his doppelganger Kami.

4. Gohan

Goku’s older son Gohan could potentially be the strongest fighter in the series. Sadly, that potential is never fully realized, as he would rather live his life as a pacifist, only fighting in times of true need. Even with that mentality, though, Gohan has been involved in some of the largest and most memorable moments of the entire franchise. We are teased throughout the series that his inner potential is greater than anyone’s, and we see an example of this when he becomes the first Super Saiyan 2 in order to defeat Cell. His potential is further unlocked during the Buu Saga, when he gains the ability to go into an Ultimate form, totally separate from his Saiyan forms. Perhaps he never truly eclipses his father in terms of power, but in many ways Gohan is the true heart and soul of DBZ.

3. Frieza

He may not be anywhere near the most powerful villain by the series’ end, but Frieza’s capacity for evil is unrivaled. Frieza and the rest of his family rule over a massive space empire, and they clearly prefer to do so with an iron fist. Even before meeting Goku, we learn that Frieza has destroyed countless worlds, killed millions of people and was responsible for the destruction of Planet Vegeta, the homeworld of the Saiyans. Once we do meet him in the series, his evil ways are further displayed as he kills and tortures the people of Namek to obtain their Dragon Balls. He kills Krillin, and in his last act, destroys the planet Namek in an attempt to kill Goku. Years after his original debut, there has still been no villain who can match Frieza’s ruthless, evil ways, and for this reason he makes it to number three on our list.

2. Goku

Goku is the main character of the Dragon Ball saga, and it only makes sense he’d rank very high on this list. Time and again, Goku proves himself to be the hero his adoptive home planet needs. He always digs deep and finds a new reservoir of strength or a new level of Super Saiyan-hood to overcome the mightiest opponents the universe has to offer. No one, not Frieza, Broly or Buu, can truly defeat the ultimate Saiyan warrior.

Goku is also a fundamentally good guy. He wants nothing more than to train hard, prove his mettle and come home to a good meal. Maybe that makes him simpler and less complex than his archrival Vegeta, but you have to admire Goku’s consistency over the years.

1. Vegeta

No character experiences a greater or better-defined arc over the course of Dragon Ball Z than Vegeta. When we first meet him, this prince of the lost Saiyan Empire is a planet-destroying bully come to conquer Earth. But over the course of the series, Vegeta evolves from foe to reluctant friend of the Z Fighters. He even settles down with Bulma and starts a family. But even when he turns over a new leaf, Vegeta has a habit of putting his rivalry with Goku ahead of the planet’s best interests.

Vegeta is the series’ greatest character because he’s also the most fascinating. He’s cursed to always be second best. No amount of high-gravity training or death-defying schemes will allow Vegeta to stay ahead of Goku for long. But that doesn’t stop him from trying, and that’s why we love him.

Do you agree with our picks? Does the #1 choice make you want to go Super Saiyan? Sound off in the comments below!

Lord Of The Rings: Rise To War Reveals More Details About Its Vision Of Middle-Earth

Lord of the Rings: Rise To War is a mobile strategy game based on the Third Age of Middle-earth. It’s due to release soon, dropping just a day after Bilbo and Frodo’s shared birthday on September 23, and developer NetEase is sharing some juicy new details on how the game will play.

NetEase released a video with senior game designer Nicolas Perrin, who discusses the appeal of bringing Middle-earth to life in a video game before going into more detail as to how Rise To War has handled that task.

Perrin says the game’s format alone sets Rise To War apart from the numerous other Lord of the Rings games that have been made over the years. “While most of the other Lord of the Rings games are about roleplay, our game is about strategy,” Perrin said. “We think that it’s an opportunity for players to experience going to war in Middle-earth.”

To that end, players will be able to experience battles across the entire map of Middle-earth. “We paid especially great attention to recreating the game map as faithfully as possible,” Perrin said. “It will include all the classic places of Middle-earth like Dol Guldur, Minas Tirith, Edoras.”

You’ll also be able to play with some of Tolkien’s most beloved characters, whether you know them from the movies or the original novels. “We will include all the fan favorites Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli,” Perrin said. “But also we hope to include less famous characters and hopefully give them a chance to get some time in the spotlight.”

The video shows off a few sneak peeks of the actual gameplay, revealing that players will be able to create and deploy different combat units belonging to a faction of their choice. A shot in the video shows a number of factions available to choose from including Isengard, Rohan, Gondor, Mordor, Lothlorien, and Erebor.

Rise To War is due out on mobile platforms later this month on September 23. If that doesn’t scratch your Lord Of The Rings itch, there are plenty of other projects on the horizon including a Gollum-centered game and a number of enhancements for the long-running Lord Of The Rings Online MMO.

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Marvel’s Eternals Will Have A Big Effect On Future Of MCU

The Eternals is set to be a big entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 4, introducing a whole new cast of characters to the comic-based saga. In an interview with GamesRadar’s Total Film, director Chloé Zhao has promised that the new movie will have a big impact on the MCU going forward.

“I think we stand alone as a film for sure,” Zhao told Total Film. “But I do think we will have a very big effect on the future of the MCU with what happens in this film. Which, you know, as a fan, is really satisfying for me! I geek out.”

Now Playing: Who Are Marvel’s Eternals?

Of course, the MCU being the MCU, we can’t expect too many early details on just how The Eternals will impact the already sprawling Marvel universe. Members of the cast who were also interviewed refused to give away details, though they were happy to talk about the real-world ways they believe The Eternals is going to be influential.

“No one [normally] calls and says, ‘I’ve been thinking about you for my next film. And it’s also a huge movie, and you are one of the leads. And you get to be a superhero in your fifties, when you’re Mexican Lebanese,'” said Salma Hayek, who plays Ajak. “The Eternals were smarter than Hollywood. You see that they’ve got the essence of something. Our diversity goes beyond the geography. It’s just a group of unique individuals.”

“I feel that with more representation and diversity within the MCU, that sense of optimism and ‘can-do’ becomes more strong, more palpable,” said Lauren Ridloff, who plays Deaf hero Makkari. “I hope that people who feel seen also feel empowered to dream bigger.”

The Eternals will release in cinemas on November 5 and, following in the footsteps of latest release Shang Chi and the Legend Of The Ten Rings, will be a theatrical exclusive for at least 45 days until a possible release on Disney Plus.

Skatebird Review

One-part tiny Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and one-part Micro Machines, Skatebird is a little bit like a Photoshop Friday pun parody brought to life; it’s extremely small birds riding Tech Decks on small-scale stunt ramps scattered around a messy bedroom, plus various locations around an office. Beneath the joke is an ambitious attempt at a 3D arcade skateboarding game, and it’s heavily inspired by the early Neversoft Tony Hawk games. The result is cute, earnest, and undeniably eye-catching, but it’s also pretty unrefined, light on content, and regularly irritating to play.

The general vibe is as though someone brought up the legendary aforementioned Birdman and someone else sprang up from their empty pint glass and exclaimed, “Birds, man!” – only instead of cobbling together a crude JPEG of a pigeon doing a 900 they spent several years building a bona fide video game based on a loose gag. Developer Glass Bottom Games has obviously injected a boatload of bird-themed touches throughout, but the studio sticks largely to the Tony template: big air, wild tricks, and an assortment of maps sprinkled with tasks to complete and letters and tapes to collect.

Developer Glass Bottom Games has obviously injected a boatload of bird-themed touches throughout, but the studio sticks largely to the Tony template.

The key influence appears to be Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, where Neversoft dropped the iconic two-minute timer in favour of allowing players to cruise the maps searching for individual mini-missions. Like THPS4, Skatebird doesn’t supply an overt list of challenges before each level and time every run; you need to skate around the environment and find NPCs – or NPBs in this case, I guess – scattered around the map to discover the challenges you need to complete. While challenges themselves are timed, the lack of a countdown clock on general exploring suits Skatebird’s relaxed nature – an atmosphere that’s served very well by its catchy set list of original, bird-themed tunes.

The soundtrack itself is easily the most polished part of Skatebird, and it’s stacked with relaxing, skate-friendly earworms full of bird calls and samples of overzealous nature filmmakers from public domain documentaries. It’s very well done; even the birds enjoy it, bopping along as they skate.

Do a Chickflip

Unlike THPS4, however, Skatebird doesn’t highlight fellow birds with missions to assign you in any particular way, so skating around searching for the next mission can sometimes be a punishment. They’re not hidden, but you do just have to coast about until you happen upon them. Also, sometimes the birds disappear after you’ve completed their mission, and sometimes they don’t – but there’s no distinction between the birds who remain on the map after you’ve done their mission and have nothing further for you to do, and the ones that do have a new task for you. This meant I often found myself skating up to (and directly through) birds with no objectives for me while combing the map for the one that did.

The tasks are generally very easy, and the time limits Skatebird provides to collect stuff and build scores are mostly very generous. Items and letters required for individual objectives are often placed quite close together in a single area of the map, but even if they’re more spread out an onscreen marker will lead you directly to them. Unfortunately, this tends to make a lot of Skatebird’s challenges surprisingly boring, with collection closer to a formality than a challenge (except whenever some dodgy hit detection decides you didn’t grab an object despite literally banging it with your beak, or skating through it several times).

There were a few challenges I did get hung up on for a few extra attempts, but the headache in these instances was mostly related to the jankiness of the camera and the controls. The camera often struggles to smoothly track the avian action onscreen, and there were plenty of occasions when I got temporarily trapped in 90-degree corners or other random parts of the level, sending the camera into a tailspin. It’s also a bit taxing to get out of a tight squeeze; having the birds flutter to turn on the spot may look authentic but in practice it just makes it cumbersome and sluggish.

Tiny Hawks Know Skating

There’s a huge amount of imagination on show in Skatebird, from the greasy pizza box ramps, to the fake issues of Thrasher rip-off ‘Thrusher’ magazine bent into quarter pipes, to the plastic straws acting as coping, even if the overall art style is a bit basic and angular. It’s cute, too, and there’s certainly something to be said about a game that lets you be a galah wearing a piece of bok choy for a hat, or a cockatoo cosplaying as the first guy to always get arrested at a music festival.

Glass Bottom Games has leaned hard into the feathered framing of Skatebird, and I certainly can’t accuse it of lacking originality, even if I’m way too old for heckin’ satirical zoomer misspellings of words like “birb” and “screm.” Once the novelty of birds on toy skateboards wears off, however, the skating itself is revealed to be quite rough. It’s easy enough to bash out a few flips and grabs, but the tricks seem quite limited and they’re neither very exciting to watch or easy to distinguish from one another. Grabs in particular are boring, and the way birds instantly snap into stalls makes these feel noticeably unfinished.

Once the novelty of birds on toy skateboards wears off, however, the skating itself is revealed to be quite rough.

What’s more, there are also only five levels available, including a small, barren, and boring rooftop level that’s disappointingly plain and really a poor showcase of Skatebird’s shtick. With no multiplayer and minimal maps there really isn’t a ton of game here.

Roblox Reported 48 Million Daily Active Users This August

Roblox continues to grow in the wake of the company going public earlier this year, with its latest monthly report showing an all-time-high of 48 million daily active users in August. This is up from 41 million daily active users when we last checked in in May.

The latest Roblox key metrics report also revealed that monthly earnings were between $167 million and $170 million, an increase of around 100% year on year.

The game, a self-described “human co-experience platform”, exploded in popularity last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cementing itself as a popular online hangout for players who couldn’t meet up in real life. Since then it has been able to maintain its steady growth in both user numbers and revenue.

The company has made use of its platform to replace real-life events, hosting huge experiences like last year’s Lil Nas X concert. The company is set to try and replicate that success again this week, when Twenty One Pilots are due to host a concert and related “experience” within the game.

Roblox has big ambitions to continue its growth, as one of the numerous companies now determined to grow its platform into a “metaverse”–other companies leaning on the metaverse concept include Epic Games and Facebook. Most recently, Roblox rolled out a test of an in-game voice chat system that would help Roblox players communicate seamlessly like they would in real life, but also to go beyond the restrictions of the real world.

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NVIDIA’s CEO Has Made It On To Time’s 100 Most Influential People List

Time Magazine has released its 100 Most Influential People List for the year, featuring the likes of Simone Biles, Britney Spears, and crypto pioneer Vitalik Buterin. Among their number is Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA–one of only three tech CEOs included in this year’s list, alongside Elon Musk and Tim Cook.

While NVIDIA is a well-known brand in the gaming industry, with the company’s newest Ampere line of graphics cards still highly coveted and near impossible to obtain, Huang is included in the Time list for the company’s work enabling AI through neural networks.

“The software that enables computers to do things that once required human perception and judgment depends largely on hardware made possible by Jensen Huang,” reads the Time profile written by DeepLearning.AI founder Andrew Ng. “With still emerging AI technologies creating an insatiable hunger for more computation, Huang’s team is well-positioned to keep driving technological advances for decades to come.”

As well as powering gaming and neural networks, NVIDIA’s GPUs are also increasingly being used to mine cryptocurrency, especially Ethereum–whose co-founder Vitalik Buterin was also included on the Influential People list. Their popularity for mining has exacerbated chip supply shortages, with NVIDIA having re-released older cards for mining, while slashing mining performance on new stocks of gaming-focused GPUS.