Manga Launches New Set of Videogames on Various Platforms

Manga Productions launches new videogames across various gaming platforms. (SPA)
Manga Productions launches new videogames across various gaming platforms. (SPA)
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Manga Launches New Set of Videogames on Various Platforms

Manga Productions launches new videogames across various gaming platforms. (SPA)
Manga Productions launches new videogames across various gaming platforms. (SPA)

Manga Productions, an affiliate of the Mohammed bin Salman MiSK Foundation, organized an event called “XP” in Riyadh to launch new videogames across various gaming platforms.
An elite group of media figures, influential content creators, and stakeholders attended the event. It aimed to engage with the players' community in the Kingdom through gaming experiences, exclusive content, and thought-provoking meetings.
CEO of Manga Productions Company Dr. Essam Bukhari expressed his pride in launching the new games and in the achievements of Saudi talents at the global level in content creation and production, such as “The Journey” and “Legends in the Coming of Time”.
He also highlighted successes in the distribution and anime licenses for both Grendizer and Captain Tsubasa.
Bukhari stated that the company is proud to publish three games in the Middle East and become the first Saudi company to publish AAA games by young Saudis, adding that investing in them and believing in their abilities is the strategic choice for regional and global competition.
The games include “Space Adventures Grendizer: Feast of the Wolves”, “The Smurfs 2: Prisoner of the Green Jewel”, and “Flashback 2”.
The “Grendizer” game is an epic adventure and a journey that explores the most famous landmarks and characters within the fantastic world created by “Go Nagai”, the author of the original series.
Players can also discover a fictional world of surprises in “The Smurfs 2” and help the famous Smurfs characters rid their world of green gem monsters.
In the second installment of the game, “Flashback 2”, players prepare to embark on a new mission with Conrad and Aisha in a cyberpunk world full of danger, mystery, and lost memories. The first installment of the game was launched in 1992 and sold more than 2 million copies.



OpenAI Enters Google-Dominated Search Market with SearchGPT 

OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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OpenAI Enters Google-Dominated Search Market with SearchGPT 

OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)

OpenAI is venturing into a territory long dominated by Google with the selective launch of SearchGPT, an artificial intelligence-powered search engine with real-time access to information from the internet.

The move, announced on Thursday, also places the AI giant in competition with its largest backer Microsoft's Bing search and emerging services such as Perplexity — a search-focused AI chatbot firm backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and semiconductor giant Nvidia.

Shares of Google's parent company Alphabet ended 3% lower on Thursday after OpenAI's announcement.

OpenAI said it has opened sign-ups for the new tool, which is currently in the prototype stage and is being tested with a small group of users and publishers. The company plans to integrate the best features from the search tool into ChatGPT in the future.

"AI-powered search tools from OpenAI and Perplexity re-affirm search as a content engagement model but pressure Google to be better at its own game," Canaccord Genuity analyst Kingsley Crane said.

Google dominates the search engine market with a 91.1% share as of June, according to web analytics firm Statcounter.

SearchGPT will provide summarized search results with source links in response to user queries, OpenAI said in a blog post. Users will also be able to ask follow-up questions and receive contextual responses.

The company will give publishers access to tools for managing how their content appears in SearchGPT results. News Corp and The Atlantic are publishing partners for SearchGPT.

SearchGPT signals a closer collaboration between publishers and OpenAI, following content licensing agreements with major organizations like Associated Press, News Corp and Axel Springer.

"Newer AI-powered search providers could face challenges of their own, with Perplexity already facing pending legal action from publishers like Wired and Forbes, and Condé Nast," said Crane.

Major search engines have been trying to integrate AI into search since ChatGPT first launched in November 2022. Microsoft, through its early investment, adopted OpenAI technology for its Bing search engine, while Google rolled out AI-powered summaries for the wider public at its developer conference in May.

Google did not respond to a Reuters query on the potential impact of SearchGPT on its business.

Reuters had earlier reported on OpenAI's plans around AI search in May.